of course it is disliked...it is popular and common. now make it a rare species or cultivar and you'll be inundated by oohs and aahs. is it dead? no. it suffered from sunburn over the winter. the plant is prone to this. would i keep it? unless there is a sentimental attachment, no. it's common, relatively cheap, no reason to keep it. if a gift from a beloved family member, the last gift from them before they tragically died, then i'd keep it. and if you want to cememt your reputation as a green thumb, keep pics, plant in a lightly shaded situation...and in a couple years, few years, brag about how you brought this plant back from the brink. just be vague as.to what brink that was.

well??? others might argue.. but frankly.. in my experience.. and dad has had them around forever.... if it wasnt bald in the middle... it wouldnt be called a nest ... lol and its a function of maturity .. as it expands out.. its natural inclination ... it leaves the middle bare ... wait until lit fully flushes out .. snip out any totally dead nubs .... and try to convince yourself.. it looks cool that way ... and if you cant deal with it.. time for them to go ... i wonder if they are in full sun.. that close to the house .. and if not.. that might be a complicating factor ... i do NOT believe it is bug nor disease ...and besides the cleanup.. there is nothing you can do about it ... other than divest.... ken

Wow - you dug up a seriously old post! So I did end up planting a very long screen -- basically the entire length of the property line -- and I'm actually really happy with how it turned out. We used Thuja Green Giant arborvitae in the center where the tallest part of the house we are trying to block out is -- we planted them a decent distance apart, not all jammed up like I see people do for a property line screen. They have grown fast, widened out, and are basically almost up to the roof of the house we are trying to hide. I think they should cap out right about 35 feet or so, which won't block the view. We planted a few during our initial planting then filled in with a few more a couple years later -- those later plantings are a bit stunted - not sure if it's because we squeezed them into less space or they were just inferior to begin with (originals came from a nursery and were planted by a landscaper, later ones from Home Depot and we DIYed them). But they are all growing well and healthy, and seem impervious to deer, wind, cold, snow, etc. To the sides of the arborvitate, we used Nellie Stevens hollies. They too have grown fast. They don't much care for the wind -- they ended up looking pretty bad by the end of the last two winters (which were brutally cold and windy) but they filled in with new leaves in the spring. The deer don't seem to eat them either. And again, I think they cap out at 20 feet or so. To the sides of that (which is getting away from blocking the house and now just screening their yard from ours) we used forsythias planted very close together that we let grow wild into a thick hedge -- mainly because I love forsythia. It's not evergreeen but the hedge is so thick and branches are so close together that it does a decent job of screening even in winter. And in spring when it is in bloom, it is an absolutely stunning wall of yellow. Again the deer don't bother them and they seem to grow well without much care. And finally at the very end of the property lines, we used sea green junipers -- again, we were looking for something evergreen but it didn't need to be tall - we were only trying to hide the neighbor's "junk pile" which was unfortunately located so that it was the first thing you saw when you pulled into our driveway. Those are the plants that look the sickliest -- there's always big brown patches in them and the snow breaks the branches. But they are farthest from the house and from far away they look ok, so I don't mind them. I think if I had to do it over again, I'd have used all forsythia instead of also using juniper -- the forsythia are just so amazingly gorgeous when they are in bloom. I would take a picture for you but we are in the middle of a storm right now -- if I remember, I will get one tomorrow. Here's a link to a pic of what it looked like when we first planted itin 2009: Newly planted And here's a shot from the summer of 2012 (sorry for lousy pic -- best I could find): Three years old I would say that this year it really started to look good since the green giants are basically touching now.

Yikes! Thanks Josh! Like I said, this is my first evergreen/spruce and I didn't realize repotting at this time was a bad idea! I have it in an East facing window that gets morning sun, would this suffice? I live in a 4-family apartment and worry about setting it outside as it may get knocked over or what not Also, I am still curious about the brown/black bumps on the branches...are those normal(cones/buds), or something to worry about(galls)? Thank you!