Thanks for the reply. Yes the color of new growth is a beautiful bright green. They sure seem to enjoy the gritty mix! Thanks Al and everyone on the forum for all of your advice and support. Eventually I'd like to plant these trees on our property, but that may take a while, at least another couple of years. Until then, they'll stay in containers with the gritty mix. I'll have to pot them up next spring and do some root pruning for sure. Thanks for your interest. Dave

Thuja occidentalis seedlings, I think. I'd prune all the branch tips about 3 inches back a few times a year during the growing season to encourage every branch to become bushier. Below, a link to all the pruning information, you need to know. Scroll to the end of the page for Thuja. Dax Here is a link that might be useful: Pruning Dos and Donts, and Some Conifer Tips: American Conifer Society

Folks, I hear the "native soil/don't create pockets" argument but I don't have room to plant these conifers 10 or 20 feet away from everything else in my yard. So I'm thinking that a pocket (even maybe with an intentional barrier around it) might be a way to keep invading roots for nearby larger trees from taking over the "new kid's" space. I've planted lots of azaleas in big pockets of pure peat under trees and they've grown huge. Again if I could put these plants away from all the other trees in my yard, I could easily see the "native soil" argument. Put another way, making it easier for roots from the new plants to move into the surrounding area seems to cut two ways, i.e., the surrounding trees (big canary island pines, liquid ambers and malalucas) might just as easily invade the new trees' space if the rooting area was all the same. Am I milking w/o a bucket here? Or do special circumstances sometimes argue for special solutions? I freely admit that I came here looking for advice and appreciate all that I've gotten. But w/o writing a book, it was difficult to tell you everything about my circumstances. So with this new info, what say you all about using only native soil? Is it still the only way to go? All the best, Spike

Densiformis is a real slow growing type - 3-4 inches per year usually, and doesn't get more than 2-2.5 feet high, although wider. Tauton is probably the hardiest shrub yew we have here in MN. It will withstand winter sun better than any other, but does turn a bit off-green for the winter. A better choice. Dogwood shrubs will give that up north feel. A wide variety of twig color nowadays. Any viburnum hardy here will be shade tolerant, except Juddii, burkwoodii and carlesii. Those three you hardly find available anyway. Juddii and carlesii were at the front of my house, if you remember, and I had two others in my backyard (leatherleaf types) that would be good. Good fall color would be V.lentago, dentatum, trilobum and sargentii types (Onandoga is a favorite of mine). V.lantana types with leathery leaves have so-so fall color, but hold there leaves for a month longer into the fall. All have berries for the birds, except juddii, burkwoodii and carlesii. Something from the Amelanchier genus (Serviceberry or Juneberry) would be nice - shrubs or small trees. Gooseberries, currants, maybe try the jostaberry. The clove currant is a currant with the most intoxicating flowers - if you like the smell of cloves (heavenly, IMO). Would be the perfect time to plant a clematis, especially a species type, right along with the newly planted shrubs. (But not in the same hole.)