Moist clay and conifers do mix very well. That's one benefit of living in a major conifer environment like west Oregon, or west Washington. We see first-hand how they grow in many clay soils. We have huge conifer forests here, and many of our soils are clay soils. Not neccesarily dense clay like is found along some flood plains, but it's frequently in the clay range of the soil triangle. The best recommendation for trees in our region is that soil be kept moist. If soils are not moist, then we are looking at "permanent wilting point". There is a big difference between saturated soil and moist soil. Unless we are growing something like cactus, we need to aim for moist soil for many conifers. When our Oregon conifers in the clay type soils get extra summer rain, the growth rings get bigger in most cases because they flourish even more, due to the soil being more moist. M. D. Vaden of Oregon.

very newbie???? ... how does that compare to a regular newbie ... special status of some kind ... lol welcome to the forum ... any pic taking and uploading capabilities??? ... go to photobucket.com .. sign up ... its free.. and pretty easy ... you havent given us much info in the way of size of yard.. size of planting bed .... and the size of plant you want ... do understand that your nootka.. has the potential to be giant ... i am linking you to the Amer Conif Soc site. and the tutorial.. a great starting point ... and then look for the photo gallery across the top banner ... and then find the latin name of your plant (try Chamaecyparis nootkatensis) .. and use the database to find out about the plant you have there .... and then decide where you want to go from there ... and if there are no pix.. take the latin to google.. and hit the images page ... most height estimates are at 10 years.. and then.. according to the database.. find the annual growth rate of what you have.. and presume it will continue to grow at that rate for the rest of your life .... this is all very important when it comes to spacing ... and checkout picea pungens iseli .. or p.p. fastigate .. or p. p. blue totem .. for a columnar blue spruce ... good luck ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

See if you can find Thuja occidentalis 'Hetz Wintergreen', locally. This arborvitae is far superior to the cultivar known as Emerald (Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd'). 'Hetz Wintergreen' is much faster growing and tends to grow with a single, central leader which makes it stand up to heavy snow loads and ice very well. Most Emerald arborvitae are multi-stemmed plants that will splay apart under the same snow and/or ice conditions. There is an online nursery in Wisconsin that sells Hetz Wintergreen very cheaply and since this plant can grow up to 3' per year once established, there is no reason to purchase larger plants. Actually, planting smaller plants will make a much better mature planting. I've linked the nursery, below, and here is the catalog listing: Thuja occidentalis 'Wintergreen' Hetz Wintergreen Arborvitae Fast growing conical shape, almost always with only one terminal leader, less prone to snow splitting. Glossy dark green color. Forms a dense wall as they age. Winter color green with black undertone. Zone 3. 6-12" 2.50 You will need to protect these plants for a couple of years so they can get some size to them to stand up to the bunnies, etc. Good luck, tl³ Here is a link that might be useful: Reeseville Ridge Nursery

Well, in the city itself people don't usually have room for a white pine and are more likely to eventually chop it down. In northern cities the pine is more likely to be close to the road, where it will get road salt. It will also get more pollution from cars...I've heard white pine is vulnerable to this, though I can't say I've noticed. Also probably more root compaction and soil trampling. Now that I write this, I see a lot of this hinges on lot size. I sort of agree with carlclaws statement they don't do well in urban areas, but the original poster was talking about a "nature preserve" so I'm not sure that applies. I'd really love to know more about the site. A quarter acre park in a city, an abandoned farm, and an abandoned gravel pit by the sea would call for different suggestions. Out of curiosity, what conifers *WOULD* be good in an urban area?