i am stumped.. based both on your volume.. budget constraints.. size needs and the need for instant gratification.. due to the pool ... at worst.. i was thinking of throwing in a yellow every third or 4th plant ... but all i can come up with is more thuja.. like yellow ribbons .. or the yellow one with the dutch name..which i am blanking on ... [i want to say horstman.. but i know that is wrong] the key was reiterated: Sticking your finger into the soil is the only way to tell when they need water. you can also tell a wet pot from a dry pot.. by weight ... they should all be rather heavy .. as compared to the lack of water weight ... but it doesnt matter.. because they just dont need that much water this time of year.. its just not hot enough for the pots to be getting so dry.. that you need to water every single day .. the fact that the water runs out the bottom.. MEANS NOTHING ... if the middle of the root mass is bone dry .. insert finger.. and use a screwdriver if you have to.. to find out how wet they are .. did you read the planting guide yet ...??? consider buying a couple extra.. as nobody expects you to have a 100% success rate ... i wouldnt even expect such of myself over 50 odd plants ... ENGINEERED drip irrigation.. would be brilliant ... see my suggestion at the link ... i have used the techline on my GGiants ... drip irrigation has NOTHING to do with those carp weep hoses at bigboxstore ... we want to know how much is coming out of each dripper.. for how many gallons in how many hours... not hoping some cheap=-a$$ system will even push water down the length of the hose ... it can all be connected to a hose ... no need for anything fancy ... ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

'Smaragd' has been measured 17 ft. tall in Seattle and I may have seen older examples planted before it became popular here that are more than double that height - the only question being if these are in fact 'Smaragd' and not one of the many other cultivars of T. occidentalis that have been named and grown. (If I become interested enough to take the trouble I could find out if any of these are 'Smaragd' by comparing foliage samples). Since there are 'Fastigiata' known over 40 ft. tall and the other two cultivars ('De Groot's Spire', 'Smaragd') discussed here aren't dwarf forms either I fully expect them to grow as tall as well, given enough time. 'Smaragd' is exceptionally prone to root rot, with internet queries about established hedges browning out and dying in sections having been rather numerous in the past. If this is a low, damp place another cultivar (or different species entirely) would probably be less of a gamble. If you plant an assortment of different plants there is more visual interest and less risk (if one or two kinds fail there is still the others, unlike when the one that falters and dies out makes up the entire planting) than with a row of one kind. And in this case the row of one kind being columnar conifers would produce a tense effect (like soldiers at attention) that seems at odds with relaxing in and around a pool. Also when you have an evergreen hedge right next to a wood fence the hedge may rub on the wood or keep it damp. There is also the problem of access to the fence or hedge for maintenance and repair being blocked by the close proximity and crowding. And when planting around swimming pools you want to choose plants with large parts that will not be easily and continuously sucked into pool filters or be hard to fish out of the water. The fine-textured debris of arborvitaes seems like it could be a nightmare in this situation. You are probably going to have to come up with an architectural solution such as arbors or trellises in order to get some screening on that side. If codes prohibit this then I guess you are stuck with being the neighborhood spectacle, out in the open like at a motel pool. Erecting a structural screen would also give much quicker relief than a hedge planting, which will take years to size up - how many summers do you want to wait for your increased privacy? This post was edited by bboy on Wed, Dec 10, 14 at 14:55

I have to backtrack a little and explain that when I planted the first set of trees, I was a COMPLETE newbie. I did not even have the soaker hose down at that point. I was watering them by hand about once a week thinking that would be enough. The soaker hose is that flat fabric kind and I've got two of them connected to a "Y" at the edge of my house...one length that goes down the side of the house is 25 feet, the other length goes toward the yard 50 feet. Together they make a 75 foot run and I read that a length under 100 feet should not be an issue where equal pressure is concerned...am I wrong? There is no "incline" along the length where the water ever has to go uphill, that is an optical illusion. From where the water enters the hose it only goes downhill slightly. I've been using this soaker hose all summer and it seems to do the job well, although I had to use it every day since I did not have time to put mulch down until this fall. I am thinking the reason the first batch died was from obvious lack of water before going into winter and then drying out by spring. Also not having mulch might have been a factor since we got down to -5 last winter. I have a hunch that the drying winds knocked out most of them, since my few survivors were the ones next to the house where they are somewhat protected. Which leads me to another question... What do you think of Wilt-Pruf? Could I prevent some dessication by using it? I was going to go with burlap but that is an awful lot that I would need to wrap...do these even need protection from wind if they get enough water before winter? I think in the spring I will move the one arb with the dead branch to the end of the line and replace it so I can keep the height I have going in that area (I need it there! I don't think want a window in my hedge..haha).

Hello ! So I am in the simcoe county area in Wasaga Beach ontario. I have 17 beautiful now 3 year old emerald cedars at 7 ft now. I back onto forest and get crazy wind from the bay. I COVER MY CEDARS and in 3 moves in 8 years with this being my 3rd hedge I’ll tell you why ...... WIND + animals. All the cedars in my area are brown, bare in the bottom or bare throughout. Rabbits go after the base, deer everything else. The wind here almost gives the cedars a wind burn. I never believed in tightly burlaping anything. I string up the cedars incase of freezing rain or in the case of this year lots of heavy snow, I then stake a wall front and back, then burlap the wall. I use a steel gaged fence tied to the post and burlap over too. Yes it’s excessive but I see the damage of uncovered, half eaten cedars. When I lived closer to Toronto I only saw damage from cedars out in the open exposed to our winter winds. At this point with how full and tall my cedars are I’m not about to start swapping out ones that die. Not to mention my neighbour who works at 4am (I still live in a subdivision) see’s deer stalking my cedar ‘Berlin wall’ a few times a week. It’s not attractive, neighbours don’t mind one bit and come spring I have no issues. My other neighbours had issues and did the same after replacing 6/9. You can use other materials other then steel gaged fence it is pricer I did it because the winter winds here are nuts and COLD the burlap without the support just caves in, I do it come November and no touch ups or issues until End of March / early April I take it down then reuse the same materials come fall. At this point the steel fence costs less then having to replace each tree. I also in the fall but those fertilizer spikes you hammer into the ground and put one for each tree/shrub it seems to do wonders. I water up until end of October. They are established but like anything else hot days - dry streaks I do my best and water everything. In our area the nurseries all agreed to cover the area around the trees but not cover completely allowing them to adjust to the temperature and as well snow won’t hurt them one bit just keep them twined incase of freezing rain etc