well, i figure i throw this in here.....

trying to decide on which evergreen to plant as a privacy/perimeter hedge.
Leyland cypress, giant green arborvitae, hemlock or norway spruce.

these all get very big in several years but any personal reasons or facts why you prefer one over the other?

Deer are an issue...I'll fence these off during the early planting and also in winter.

any feedback....

much thanks.

 

I'm a Norskie, so I vote for the spruce!
Actually, I don't know much about the other choices. Maybe somebody will jump in with better advice. I do know that we used Norway's in Montana for windbreaks near the house. They help up very well.

 

Deer will prune cedar as high as they can reach, but I haven't had much with deer and spruce. A little spruce had just the right texture for a buck to rub the velvet off, but he'll usually pick on one and totally destroy it.

Gophers will kill spruce. They eat the roots. Usually just the young ones again. 2 or 3 rows of spruce will make a pretty good wind and sight break. the outside trees will stay green all the way to the ground. Inside ones will drop the branches as they lose daylight. They reproduce naturally quite easily if you let them. Mowing curbs that.

I've had a few topped by high winds, but the same winds leveled hundreds of acres of oak woods, a barn, and rolled a couple of campers on their lids.