I wound up taking like a woven wire and making about a 40" circle with it but instead of setting it on the ground I put tee posts on both sides of the tree directly inline with the tree trunks and tied the wire to them but about 30" off the ground so that I can mulch mow or other maintenance around the base of the trees. I will attach a picture that has them in the background you might be able to sorta make it out, as you can tell I have neglected mowing for several weeks and weeds and grass grew up fast. by keeping the posts in line with the trunks it allows me to mow in a straight line past them and leaves very minimal weed eating, raising it up off the ground it makes them taller to keep them from chewing on the tops as much. I also have short sections of corrugated pipe split and stuck around the base to keep rabbits from chewing on them in winter, the whole thing has worked great so far. Hope that gives you a general idea. Good Luck!
All the really good ideas I've ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.
