Last winter (winter of 2014) the 5 aborvitus trees on the north side of our deck started turning brown near the bottom and many, many, many needs fell. As the year went by the tree lost many more needles and about 3/4 of each tree is looking very thin with needles. These trees were there when we bought the house 9 years ago, so I am estimating the trees to be about 12-15 years old. Also, 2 large evergreen trees, near where the aborvitus are located, are starting to drop needles. There are several large bare spots. These trees are about 15 years old. I know there are lots of rabbits and field mice near our house and likely in our yard. We also have some smaller bushes around the house (boxwoods, I think) that have random brown spots throughout the bushes. These are about 5- 9 years old. Any ideas or suggestions for the tree/bush issues?

Arborvitae continue to be stressed from the drought of 2012 with damage such as needle loss occurring yet. They do have the ability to generate new buds if the damage is not extensive. If they are healthy other than just needle loss from winter desiccation, recovery is possible. If the twigs are dead, more than a little damage has occurred. You can prune out dead wood at any time, it is not coming back. When there is damage on several different species, the cause is more likely to be environmental than any disease. Prune out the dead, water in times of drought (late July through August), fertilize in the spring. Field mice eat bark, rabbits will eat bark and needles. damage is at the sol line or above the snow line. Fencing out the rodents or using a repellant can be effective, especially for rabbits.