go to a good nursery ... and find an equivalently sized plant.. and study the pot or the ball and burlap for how big a professional would do it ... that will clue you in to the MINIMUM size ... a little bigger never hurt ... before you go ... snip off a piece of yours from the rear .. and have the nurseryman ID the plant for you ... and then ask him what it is worth ... how fast it grows.. etc ... then go back home.. and consider the SCOPE of what you are thinking about doing ... versus the cost of what you are doing .... per 6 foot plant.. i could easily see 4 to 6 hours of intense extreme physical labor ... if you dig a 2 to 3 foot rootball .. will you be able to drag that 100 to 200 pounds of soil plus plant across your property ... etc ... again.. depending on the plant.. you may be able to invest 100 to 200 dollars in some decent plants for the back .. and just chainsaw these down to the ground ... and get the front of your house back ... on top of all that ... larger.. older plants.. have a much harder time dealing with the stress of moving them.. short of hiring big guys with big machines to do it right ... BTW... make sure you know where all your buried utilities are... its the old cost benefit analysis .... good luck with that .. lol when all is said and done... there is a big difference between what CAN BE DONE... and what SHOULD BE DONE .... yes its possible.. but should you do it... too much work.. and failure rate is too high ... i vote no ... be done with them ... good luck ken

mary_max, Just ordered 5000 seeds on Amazon for $9.99 including shipping. I will plant them in the Spring. Sounds like a lot, but they say it covers 100 square feet. That is not such a large plot and certainly enough to make a statement along the wooded roadside where I plan to plant them. Jon

How large is the container? That will determine what you put in the pot. I want to put them in the rear of my home on either side of the garage. The area is West facing, so it gets great morning sun. ( East is morning sun, west is PM sun but either should be ok ) Can anyone suggest a nice not too tall evergreen that would be pretty hardy and also disease/bug resistant? Look for drawf evergreens, or conifers. Dwarf means that it grows slowly and will not outgrow the container ( in a few years) Eventually they will need to be moved into your yard. Also look for plants that are hardy in zone 5 or lower. I assume that you are zone 6. Not in your post. One zone lower will allow the plants roots to survive, since in will not have the earth to protect it. The pot is exposted all year to all elements . Should I drill a few holes in the pots? Absolutley ! Many - Drainage is the key to sucess. Should I put "peanuts" or rocks in the bottom? I don't want them to topple over in the winter winds. If they topple the plant may be too big for the pot. Peanuts and rocks are not needed to improve drainge, they only take away the space avaiable for the roots to grow. (Look at Al's post on perched water table - In container Garden Forum. Lots of holes and a screen is all you need. Bagged potting soil is light weight and not that good for trees and shrubs in containers. The soil in the mixes you buy , are mostly peat, and over time compress, resulting in roots not being able to breath (yes roots need to breath) The peat is ok for annuals - short term - Go to the Container forum and look for Al's Gritty Mix, It requires that you go out and buy the ingriedients, but it will last much longer and be much better for the tree ( or anything you put in a container. Also, can I use regular garden dirt or do I need a version of Al's Potting Mix? No Dirt, it will just compact - yes to Al's Mix - either one works IF I need Al's what version for evergreens? Either will be good. You may have difficulty with finding some of the ingriedients , if you post your location, I will help. The Gritty Mix is heavy and has the best drainage. Thanks in advance for responses! Plants - You will need to confirm you are zone 6 Dwarf Hinoki Cypress Dwarf Alberta Spruce (altough it does get spider mites, it works great in containers)I think eastern exposure would be best. Dwarf Globe Blue Spruce Boxwood - many Juniper Gold Cone Juniper Blue Star Dwarf Arbrovatae -�Rheingold� arborvitae Also some of the smaller conifers will be grafted high and look like a ball on a stick, This will give you more height, and can be underplanted with perenials Mike You will need to ocassionally fertilize. If you read Als post it will tell you that over ferlizing is bad, and a weak soultion of liquid fertilizer is good. If you need more info. just post. Here is a link that might be useful: my blog

Technically, any large (or medium) sized tree has the potential to have invasive roots - it is just that some are more invasive than others. Structural problems are usually not caused by root upheaval, but by the reduction in moisture in reactive clay soils which cause soil shrinkage and potential movement in the foundations. It is usually a good idea not to plant trees and shrubs no closer to the house than their mature height - so, a tree that grows 8 metres should be planted a minimum of 8 metres from the house. As far as shady trees are concerned, you may want to look at the Blush Macaranga - grows to 6 metres and produces one of the best shade canopies of large heart shaped leaves I have seen. It self-seeds prolifically, however, so you need to be careful. Some of the grafted gum trees may be okay - 5+ metres high with very showy flower displays in summer. Ian