Arborvitae Cons Some leaf diseases Bagworms can destroy Deer can destroy Spider mites can destroy Heavy SNOW can destroy or disfigure Slow Growing Fairly expensive due to high demand and slow growth Pros High quality foliage Wonderful aroma- especially when it's being eaten by bagworms Easier to control hedge due to slow growth Transplanting usually successful Very desirable and makes a good accent. Leyland Cypress Cons too rapid growing for most residential hedges Can outgrow space High maintenance hedge can look unkempt not like picture insects can destroy disease- canker big problem- expensive removal I personally don't think they transplant as easily as arb. and or are finicky about soil. I see more dead transplants than with arbs. Pros Rapid growthrate a plus for fast privacy Cheap- $11 at walmart High quality foliage- dark green tough to beat Nice aroma Would make a nice specimen if it wasn't so overused Just a little suggestion. Why don't you use shrubs as a formal hedge? There are shrubs that grow rapidly but not so tall as to get out of control. You can mix in some trees like leyland cypress or arborviate for additional privacy and for looks. That way it's more like landscaping and less like a need for a screen. If you plant a tall growing hedge in a residential property, while it gives you lots of privacy, it also looks strange. And it makes it obvious that you are trying to screen the view of something. Some alternatives (depending on climate and site- do your homework) Nelly R Stevens Holly American Holly Japanese Cedar (commonly called Cryptomeria or crypto for short) Chinese or Japanese Hollies or hybrids (Such as 'Sea Green' Juniper- tall & wide growing dark color. Fast & inexpensive) Redcedar, Rocky Mtn Juniper, Chinese or Japanese Junipers or hybrids Cedar of LEbanan, atlas cedar or deodara Evergreen magnolias- southern, sweetbay Eurpean hornbeam, American Beech while deciduous offer some dormant season screening. Chinese evergreen oak Western arborvitae (aka Green Giant)

Yes I have been short of time lately, but after I just saw your latest questions, I took only a moment to walk over to my row of trees and check thier measurements. The fence behind my trees appears 10 times worse that the one in your photo. My trees are planted on about 9 foot centers and I only did one row of them. The bottom four feet height on then averages spreads across their widths of at average is 5 feet all the way around them. For the distance from the two intercecting fences inside corner to the end of the bad fence my trees are distacting the view from is about 50 feet long. I have 7 GGs planted along this length. the GG's trunk nearest to the inside corner of the intercecting fences has a trunk only 4 feet away from the corner. the 6 other GGS have an 8 feet distance I can measure from trunk to trunk, But the planting holes when first dug were centered at almost 9 feet distances. The lower 4 feet of the trees are the most full and there is still an average of a 2 foot gap between each of the trees that needs to fill in before the trees will make a solid screen along that height of the 6 foot tall fence. Since I stoped giving my trees osmokote even before last year the rest of the trees growth is not as thick or wide, so there is even more view of the top two feet of the ugly fence. This is the reason why I suggested it is best for you to plant two staggered rows. That way you will have a better full screen more quickly than my trees. the neighbor's two story house is no more than 4 feet on the otherside of the ugly fence. The tops of my trees have grown about a foot higher than the bottom of their second story windows. I measured a 4 foot distance from the fence slats to the trunks of my trees, and I could still easily, with out much tree branch displacement, walk behind my trees and the fence when I came up with the 50 foot measurement for the lengh of fence that the lower 4 feet of this line of trees currently cover. One other note is that I planted only 18 inch tall trees to start. They are fairly well protected from the prevailing north/south winds because the 2 story house is directly south of them and there is a large scarlet oak tree directly north of the first 3 from that inside corner I discussed above. I live on a corner lot and my house faces west, but the fence in question is along along the east facing back yard/south side yard, and it stretchs westward to about half the depth of our south facing side yard. So my GGs get plenty of afternoon sun, especially in the summer and before they grew so tall got a lot of morning shade. I only went to all this description to illustrate how protected they are from drying winds. This is so effective for then that my trees have never taken on a bronzy cast that many people report their GGS do in the winter. My trees are also planted on a slight rise where the builders of the two story house so close south of my trees never did a good job cleaning out the builders sand they uses when installing a narrow sidewalk between that house and the privacy fence. The growth I reported with my trees has all been affected by theses issues I have just discussed. GGs which struggle will slow draining soil that stays wet longer will grow only half as fast as mine have until they get well established, which could take up to 4 years. Some of them might even die during sudden dry periods and have to be replaced. Also trees planted at 6 feet tall might take a full 2 years before you see much top growth out out them. That is because they will be using this time to develop a better root system which can support the 5 foot yearly growth these trees do while they are young and once they are established. The trade off you get with this is while they are waiting to develop a larger root system and not growing much in height, they will be doing a better job than mine did concerning the thickening of their trunks and also thickening the density and spread of their branches. My trees did not have to that root size catch up so they started showing nice top growth in the first year they were planted. It took them all this time though to develop an exceptionally good density and branch spread over the lower 4 feet of them. If I had kept spreading Osmokote under them and watering them regularly in dry periods after they got well established, them that exceptionally nice thickness and spread portion of them today might have reached at least 8 feet high. As it is they have a fairly nice appearance from top to bottom, but do not have the type of screening affect that you would want to handle well the issues you have described in your back yard view. Hope that with all this description, it will help you to understand better why I suggested a double staggered row with the front row beeing the Steeplechase trees. If cost is an issue, you might plant 6 foot tall GGS on the back row and either purchase locally or order in if they cannot be found locally the steeplechase sport cultivars of the GGS. If ordered in those Steeplechase cultivar trees would probably on be available no larger than 3 gallon size and will look fairly thin when you get them, but if you provide them good drainage, water them correctly, and feed them with osmokote each spring and fall growing season then it will suprise you a how quickly they catch up in size the the larger GGS you planted in the back row.

Western Red Cedar makes good kindling, but surprisingly poor firewood, unless split in to small pieces, even though properly cured over years under cover. The branches make good firewood though. After all, they are a long knot and we all know a knotty piece of firewood burns hot. I'm always surprised that people, when harvesting firewood, throw the branches away. I have heated my house with a certified airtight stove for over 30 years. The electric furnace was disconnected the first Fall I was here. It still has the original filter. The downside is that my woodshed is large enough to hold 3 or 4 cars. I got my first cell phone last week. My wife made me do it. I'm a hermit. Mike....rambling on.

Hi Bill, thanks for this level of detail! I too am trying to plant GG in mostly clay soil in a low area that is very wet in the spring with small amounts of standing water (springtime). I'm afraid to move forward because of this but saw your post and theory on the sump below the roots. I'm in Philadelphia (7b) so not sure how that factors compared to Alabama but wondered if you could elaborate more. I assumed my standing water is due to the fact that this is the low spot in the neighborhood, but I’m sure the dense clay soil is what’s preventing the water from absorbing. So do I even have a wet feet issue or just the appearance as the soil is too dense to absorb? Does that make sense? I was also considering mounding up the area to raise the root balls out of the lowest point and add rich, better draining compost/soil. Does the sump below direct water to the roots or away from them? Many thanks! Andrew