There's no way on this plantent, where you live, that Holmstrup will winter burn. Some idiot wrote that. Snow loads, nah, that's wrong too. That's a fine cultivar for what you're doing. Perfect for your space requirements - can be brought into practitically any nursery on earth at a 6 foot height, the list just goes on and on. Degroot's Spire - the same holds true for. Although, now you're looking at paying the bigger bucks. What I imagine for your purpose is a Holmstrup planted every 24".. Ken's suggestion of 18" for Degroot's seems good there, for that cultivar. Pruning: cut em flat across the top and walk away. It's that simple. Anything else and you're creating more work for yourself in the end. Hetz Wintergreen aka Wintergreen is now encroaching into that plant that after time will require that you maintain the entire plant, meaning, your ladder ain't gonna fit very well into that spot. Then... it just grows too fast. Wrong plant. Don't even consider Woodwardii either. Hell that's 10x the wrong plant. You want height not width. If it were possible to find larger plants: Malonyana and/or Malonyana Aurea would be welcome to that site. These selections are all pillars, which is an important concept in your design. They grow vertically and not (very much at all), horizontally. I've seen a 30 foot tall hedge in zone 4a in Iowa of Holmstrup and it was outstanding. I was on a garden tour this summer. Dax

I strongly urge you to call "call before you dig" before you dig, or yank, as the case may be. Just remember that the removal of that which is blocking the view out will also enable the view in. I wouldn't want them there either but would also lament the loss of privacy. If you also feel that way, an option might be to get a hedge, or just a few selectively-placed shrubs, started at a more appropriate distance from the house, planted to allow for the mature size of the plants without constant mangling. Then remove the house-huggers in a year or two when the new plants are bigger. I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss these meatballs as junk. Not what usually gets planted around a nice golf course house. When they get to that point, shrubs often need to be sheared so often that they don't get a chance to bloom, if they are a type that would normally do so, and can look very strange, or just boring. Giving them a place to grow unhindered, or where they can least be allowed to bloom (if applicable) with only yearly trimming, could be worthwhile. I'm intrigued by the dog hedge idea. How will you and the dog get in/out of there if the dog can't escape on his/her own? An invisible fence system might be what is needed.

I'm not very familiar with the gardening forums so if this should be posted in a different place, please let me know. There is a cedar hedge directly south of this house. The house is the one with the black roof, and the hedge is marked in blue. The hedge is taller than the house and blocks the low south sun in winter, which would otherwise come into the large windows. In summer the tall height adds little shade value since the sun is too high overhead. I know that if we cut the hedge, the bare interior will be exposed. I saw this when our neighbor cut a similar 30 ft hedge to 10 feet. The exposed area was ugly and a week later they cut it down entirely. What if we cut the hedge down, but only to where the bare top is not visible from the main floor windows? From say 30 ft to 25 ft. It wouldn't matter if it was visible from the upstairs bedroom windows. My concern is still that we are leaving the top of the tree open to snow and ice, and it would break branches. Could we trim down the branches to live growth that would fill in and prevent this? Something like this? The black lines represent cuts which are above the live wood, not into the dead portions closer to the stem. Otherwise we will live with it as it is, to keep the ground-level privacy. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Well, you will receive more suitable responses if you share where you are, what zone; is it full sun or partially shaded? What direction of sun exposure? How extreme might reflected and radiated heat from patio or pool decking be? How tall and wide would you prefer? There is a ton of difference between miniatures that top out at 18" and Gloire des Rosomanes which can grow 8' (or more). Is scent important at all? How "red" do you want it? Dark pink, brilliant red, orange-red...? What are the disease pressures and issues where you are and how likely are you to spray against fungal issues? There are MANY questions left unanswered, making the ubiquitous answer, "Knock Out" as valid as any other. But, with some insight into some of the above variables, I'm sure you will receive some creative responses.