American arborvitae, Thuja occidentalis, has a reputation for being heavily browsed by deer. In fact, most sources list it as being prone to heavy damage. According to your grower's scale, any arb would rate in the 2-3 range, certainly nowhere close to a 7!! I can't think of any reason why one cultivar would offer greater deer resistance than another. I have no personal experience with 'Linesville' but any other arborvitae planted anywhere close to deer land in my area will show clear evidence of their presence. Pretty much considered to be deer candy.

It is the preferred entrée of deer in this area. I wonder how long it will be before horticultural plants are genetically modified for deer resistance?

Best bet would be Buxus or boxwood. Linesville will be eaten down unless the deer somehow miss them in their wanderings. Have observed them eating upright pyramidal arborvitae and they miss the smaller round ones like Hetz Midget or Danica but you will still be taking a big chance.

Agree. Thuja occidentalis is a favorite of deer, and I cannot see how any particular cultivar would have a different rating than the strait species. In my area, 'Green Giant' has much better resistance than Thuja occidentalis, due to the hybrid cross of plicata x standishii, but I have read others have deer devour those too...

In my case, the deer ate my Tsuga canadensis, Tsuga chinensis, and Chamaecyparis nootkatensis, but didn't touch my Green Giant that was right in the center of all those plants... I've heard deer have regional dinner preferences as well... lol

The deer didn't seem to like my Thuja occidentals 'Tunney Pyramidal' last winter. They chewed up 'Rushmore' that was planted on both sides and one that was planted in the middle of 'Tunney Pyramidal' but 'Tunney Pyramidal' was not touched. Here is the only information I can find on Tunney Pyramidal that I purchased from North Star Nursery in Minn. ten years ago.

Frank

50 years ago, a hobby plant breeder in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula found this seedling.

The hobby horticulturist who selected the seedling was a nephew of Gene Tunney a famous boxer from the 1920s who beat Dempsey twice.

Thanks for all the comments, mostly all thoughts and observations of taller thuja with the exception one talking about Danica and Hetz Midget. I wonder if the low growing globes are ignored as long as there are taller selections available? Boxwoods were mentioned as an alternative, but we already have a large boxwood population - like a 1200 plant maze of Glenco. Might look into another mugo pine if we can find a reliable source.

Marshall

Delta, are all those photos showing us 'Tunney's Pyramidal'? Me got confused. Oh wait, so the shaggier, not quite so pyramidal ones are the 'Tunney's'? I didn't know about that but it looks like a good general-purpose arb for where you want close-to-species, like I often do, but a little narrowness too. Plus, provenance is close to where I do my work.

+oM

Tom, here is an older picture.

Frank

Thanks. I like that it's not over-hyped in the density department. All Thuja are naturally very dense, but cultivars seem to have been selected to push this characteristic beyond all reason, via tiny growth increments. I like the somewhat more open, rangier types. As well-of course-as the straight species, which is another topic!

+oM