I liked them back before I knew grafted conifers existed. I thought my only choice was what the big box store carried. Now since I've seen what grafted conifers can do... it's like comparing a rotten tomato to a diamond.

12' tall is large to prune out the multiple leaders... it may create a very open plant. Not sure without pics.

Not sure why Hertz wintergreen isn't available more... I'm not sure why the Green Giant isn't even available local. Each big box store will carry 200+ Emerald Greens though.

as a collector.. on a smallish suburban lot.. i cant believe you would waste precious space on things the bigboxhardwarestore sells ..

and.. in MI .... the great white north ... UNLESS YOU INSURE SINGLE LEADER PLANTS ... they will eventually fail due to ice or snow splaying ... usually the winter after you declare them perfect in your head...

it will be very hard to find single leader plants...

you can do so much better... AND YOU KNOW IT ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful:

Lol ken, I don't know if I quite consider myself a collector yet. However on a small suburban lot in a city where fences are not allowed, narrow tall evergreens serve a valuable purpose. Otherwise all 5 neighboring houses have a front row view of me obsessively rearranging plants to maximize space utilization, not to mention taking repeated pics of the same beds three times a day to get the lighting just right.
None of the designer conifers are going to fulfill my privacy requirements in the near future and the ones more commonly available in larger sizes take up too much square footage. I need to leave some grass for my kids to play!

In the end, I have removed other wastes of space like dwarf Alberta spruces etc etc but the emerald arborvitae will be staying.

However on a small suburban lot in a city where fences are not allowed, narrow tall evergreens serve a valuable purpose

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anyone who knows 3 latin names.. is a collector.. lol ...

now .... locate Thuja occidentalis 'Degroot's Spire' .. smallish.. single leader... and DONT WASTE SPACE ... grows about a foot per year.. in sun .... shade will slow that ...

a single leader plant is snow/ice proof.... one foot up.. 2 foot wide.. 12 feet tall in 10 years ... grows from ground thaw thru freeze ....

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: 12th is mine ... and it has a second leader closest to the camera

That would be 'Hetz Wintergreen' :-). These are not as common as the 'Smaragd's (Emerald Green) because they grow a lot taller......in urban areas, that 12-15' height is very desirable and about the ideal privacy screening height.

IMO, comparing arborvitaes to grafted conifers is like comparing apples to oranges...........why? Arborvitae, regardless of where one locates or purchases them, fill a very useful and obvious need and it is just plant snobbery not to acknowledge that. Second, not all that many conifers tend to be grafted.........around here it tends to be just the Lawson cypresses that are prone to root rots and so are grafted on resistant rootstock. Otherwise, most everybody else is on their own roots :-))

"Designer" conifers - LOL!! I love that terminology! I consider designer conifers anything that grows other than nature intended - balls on a stick, poodling, spiraling, even cloud pruning. I know there is a market for them.......it's just not with me :-))

Lol not the rental car arborvitae, it is Hetz Wintergreen. Thanks. The growth rate on Degroots is impressive. Thanks for the picture Ken, I especially like the Abies concolor compacta in the same pic. Will have to add that to my list.

Will keep the Degroots in mind for when my Wichita Blue Junipers kick the bucket as Ken predicts. That being said, the narrow profile does not make for the greatest privacy screens and beyond that and the growth rate, I don't really see how its all that different from the Emerald green 'smaragd'.