I think you're going to need a deer fence to keep them out of your orchard...but planting in front of the fence will look nice and help disguise the fence. From what I've read, you can either do an 8' deer fence, all the way around, or two fences (about 4' apart) that are 4' tall. I don't know if this will work, but it's supposed to, according to some other forums. I've also read that an electric wire or two will work, but not here. We have an electric fence around our horse pasture (seven wires, two hot ones) and the deer jump over, crawl under and even walk through...very carefully. As for the roses, my deer like to chew on the new growth, but I plant them against the house or fence...and I put lots of lavender, other herbs and deer resistant plants in front of them. They still reach though in the fall, and nibble, but an exposed bush will get eaten down, pretty fast. Butterfly bushes are not thorny, but the deer don't care much for the taste. They also ignore (for the most part...babies taste almost everything) coneflowers, cosmos, daisies, lilacs, bee balm, mint, lavender, alyssum, marigolds, pontilia, blueberries, stock, tomatoes, acorn squash, sunflowers, white petunias (don't know why) pansies, violas, columbine, sweet woodruff and the strawberries, if they're growing under other shrubs or herbs they don't like. All deer are probably different, but mine don't pay much attention to these plants...so except for my roses, that's pretty much what I plant, here :)

Hello, Well, unfortunately, we're talking about only 24 feet of open space along the property line. The main reason for planting is to hide my neighbor's backyard because it's looking like he's planning to spend a lot of time outside. So, it's his back door, which is located right in the middle of his house, probably right where the open space begins. I am planning to have the existing arborviti cut back so they're all around six feet. Does that help in any transition? Can I put in a flowering something where his back door and then continue with a different series of something hedge or trees? Thank you.

Janey, I don't know of any silvery Aussie natives that might be acceptable to pleaching, however, the plant that comes to my mind that might be worth a try is a variegated pittosporum. It has leaves similar to Acmena or Syzygium (excuse spelling), which grows to about the size your looking for, 2.5 to 3 metres. I haven't grown it for some years but it should still be available from large nurseries.

Addison, I have no personal experience growing jack pines, because I have no areas with salt, and almost no sandy soil anywhere on my land. I live on a dirt road which never receives road salt, and the areas I'm re-foresting are a good distance from that road, behind the house. I mentioned jack pines because they seem to grow profusely in coastal areas in Maine and MA where the soil contains a good proportion of sand and salt. It does seem they grow quite large and would indeed be unsuitable for your hedge, but perhaps will grow on the ridge as you've planned. I just don't know how they do in areas with rich, un-salty soil. I like trees and shrubs to look natural as well. I never prune anything on the property, except to remove branches that are growing into our walking trails or into the path of the mower. However I don't worry much about whether a shrub or tree is native. My apples, crabapples, and lilacs (some of both are in my front yard along the road) are not native, but I doubt that the sight of these ruins whatever Vermont experience visitors might expect. Too bad for them, if so, because these trees/shrubs are ubiquitous all over the state, and impossible to avoid!