Juniperus virginiana 'Canaertii'. You don't say where you live. Susceptible to Bag worms...easily controlled. Juniperus virginiana is a host tree for apple ceder rust. This fungus produces the familiar rough, brownish galls known as cedar apples. From these it spreads in the spring to apple leaves and young fruits, but it must pass again to a red cedar if it is to continue its development. Cedar-apple rust generally does little damage to cedars or junipers. In many cases, the disease is not noticeable except in the spring when the galls are producing the bright orange spore horns. If the disease is very severe, however, twig dieback can occur. Rust galls on small cedars and junipers can be pruned out in late winter or early spring (by April 1). Aside from that I have about 14 planted as a screen in 1981. Very mature with never any issues. If you like it buy it and plant it. Here's the above link. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: Juniper link

i really hate that you are plating this invasive weed ... though it is native in some areas .. where are you??? but that said... you could probably throw them.. bare root on the driveway for the rest of summer.. the wind would blow them to the edge.. and they would root in.. and live ... i too .. prior to knowing better... literally ripped one footer from the sand in august.. and planted them elsewhere.. and forgot to water them ... and they lived ... who needs a shovel... lol ... well i did.. to dig the new hole ... there are much better conifers for any project... and they are not expensive when bought at that size... see link.. as an example of what is available ... but do try to plant in the proper season .... it just make success.. so much easier .... ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

Thank you all for the input. A little bit a of background probably won't hurt. My property is mostly deciduous woods, with 3 small fields, and a small wetland. There are 4 or 5 isolated cedars that I know of. There are also many (what I believe to be) Hawthorns scattered around. I understand the wildlife value of the hawthorns. My purpose is to enhance the wildlife habitat of my property. I was almost set on planting red cedar, but now have doubts. How big of a problem is cedar rust to hawthorns? Is there an alternative evergreen that is dense, not huge, and will do well in a seasonally wet clay soil area? Is it likely that the existing cedars are a threat to the hawthorns? Greg

I shouldn't have said cankers, I thought the word cankers was interchangeable with frost crack and sunscald, and now I know that they're not. My trees had frost crack and/or sunscald, due to being planted on the south/southwest part of our house. The trees i planted were susceptible to it, which I didn't know at the time. The Crimson King didn't survive no doubt because I didn't water it enough. I watered it, but it was like 8ft tall, and i only watered it about 5 gallons a week (puny for my fast draining soil). And probably the same could be said for the red rocket maple. But the golden Raintree died during a bitter cold winter. I read it was to zone 5, but most sites have it at zone 6, so it wasn't right for my zone in the first place. Dh and I decided this morning that we're going to do a 6ft L fence blocking the 3 properties that abuts ours, including the next door neighbor, the neighbor's Christmas tree property, and the empty tract of land belonging to his parents. The entire fence will be about 150ft long. That's an immediate 6ft screen. And no waiting for 10 years for conifers to do the job. He's going to take some time off in May or June and we'll do the fence. Just a simple wood fence. No one around here has a fence. Not a single solitary person. But then they don't have 3 properties abutting their backyard either. We're doing an L fence because we don't want to close off our entire back yard. We like the openness to be outside barbecuing and being able to say hello to neighbors walking down to the lake, or the elderly couple who lives up the road, they must be close to 80yrs now, and they walk hand in hand every spring and summer past our house, and then back. I love them. I would hate being fully blocked off from ever seeing them. I admit every spring I look for them, and always a little scared they won't walk anymore. I have 3 Lilacs on that side, and they are quickly growing and will provide some screen, so the yard won't be fully exposed to the road. We also live out in the middle of nowhere, so the only people who drive past here are the people who live here, and the few people who take our road as a short cut to a nearby town. And now, I'll be able to relax and plant what I want, and for no other reason than pure pleasure. Who knew! lol We still plan on planting Junipers and other shrubs, but now they''ll be here and there, for a focal point, not for a screen.