ng, I assume you mean late spring of last year? In any case, yes, some pretty poor condition. So, the usual rundown of questions: Any fertilizer applied? How about herbicides in the lawn? Any other recent developments in that area of your yard? We have to start somewhere, and that somewhere is usually history of site.

+oM

This damage isn't normal but it looks like in the last picture they may be going to grow this year from below the dead bits - just snip the dead off and see how they do from this point on.

If they do come around your next problem is the planting space (and the spacing between the plants) is way too small for what is going to become much larger specimens in time. The commonly sold one of this appearance is 'Cupressina' (Cypress Norway Spruce). An example of this cultivar planted in Illinois during 1928 was 48' tall by 1986. The Seattle (USDA 8) arboretum has one over 60' tall, perhaps the Illinois tree is this tall (or taller) by now also.

The true Columnar Norway Spruce (Picea abies f. columnaris) produces short, nearly level branches.

Any fertilizer applied

No

How about herbicides in the lawn

I'm mostly organic. I applied 3 rounds of Tenacity early in the year, but that was prior to these trees being planted. Rest of the year is fertilized with Milorganite and spot treatment on weeds/poa

Any other recent developments in that area of your yard

There wasn't anything planted here before the trees. Site conditions are black top soil for about 4-5 inches then clay loam. Drainage for the yard crowns about half way and is irrigated so this site stays relatively moist.

I did not put drippers on the trees, but followed a regular watering schedule making sure to keep the root ball moist.

Trees were planted slightly above grade, large saucer holes. Trees were from home depot and had very small root balls.

I have not had any soil analysis done, but might consider doing that this year.

Embothrium -

You're correct, this is Cupressina and was listed as being 5-6 feet in mature width, but it sounds like this might not be a reality. We spaced them about 4 feet tree to tree and about 3 feet from the fence. Our soil and precipitation here in CO is less than ideal so I was thinking we'd likely be on the low end. We were looking for more of a close grouped hedge look.

if you have a warranty.. use it ...

life on dead LOOKING STICKs ... is all in the buds..

there is nothing to do .. until you see if those buds .. bud out ...

but dont wait.. if you have that warranty ...

conifers.. are trees.. they NEVER stop growing.. in the conifer world.. almost all estimates are at ten years... and figure at 20.. twice as big ...

i always google the latin name.. and flip to images.. and find the biggest versions .. and that tells all ..

BTW .. on that second to last pic.. the main bud dided lasat year.. before sprouting.. that is why you now have all those new leaders... leading me to think.. .that this plant.. in particular.. was not prime stock to begin with ...

sound llike you amended the planting hole... but the two soils are probably not divergent enough.. for it to matter with this issue ...

bottom line.. bad stock... sounds like you did the rest.. pretty close to OK ...

they are planted.. too close to the fence.. by at lest 3 feet or so ... and maybe a bit to close between each .... if only one is majorly impacted... maybe you can move the others around ...

no pruning.. until you figure out.. what parts are actually alive.. by seeing what buds out ...

how late in spring did you plant ... and where are you ...

thuja de groots spires may have been a better choice ...

i am going to guess.. bigboxstore??? yes????

ken

Picture this in that spot.

http://www.svaz-skolkaru.cz/detail.php?p=fotoen&b=detail&f=1&id=675&PHPSESSID=0a0cb559ad66b2bd32905d6667f035f7

Hi Ken -

Thanks for the reply. Sounds like I really underestimated the growth, I didn't know that sizes were estimated based on a certain time. I figured it was the max average of some sort of sample. Thank you for telling me about that!

Yes, these are from a big box store, home depot to be exact and yes, I do have their one year warranty. Admittedly though, my parents had 6 much more mature nursery sourced Cupressina planted and while they didn't have the type of dieback on new growth that mine have, they do have similar leader growth/death.

I'm in Colorado near Denver. We might go back to the drawing board on this section so I would be curious if you have any other suggestions on columnar growth evergreens.

Embothrium -

Point well taken...any suggestions on replacements? I can come out from the fence another 2 feet or so and move the edging into the lawn, but we'd really like to have some evergreen in this area.

Thanks again to everyone for the feedback!

A good proportion is 2 1/2 times as tall as the bed is wide in the part where the shrub is placed. So a 7' tall shrub needs about a 3' wide strip to look right and so on. If there is an independent garden center near you they will have better selection and information than a big box plant department. Also public gardens or other accessible displays will have established examples of locally possible trees and shrubs. Visiting one or more of these may result in you seeing something you really like, that you can then find in commerce afterward.

do look at thuja de groots spire as an alternative ... though i dont know how it does in CO .. see link

link

mail order them if you have to .. and insist on single leader plants ...

never... never.. plant all of one thing ... so you could respace the good ones left.. and add these as an alternative ...


ken

Check out Juniperus virginianus "Taylor"--though they're quite expensive. I know of only one nursery that sells them retail--Sooner Plant Farm, and their shipping is horrendous.

A lot of relevant points have been made as well as suggestions for replacements. I agree with all of this.

Because of the width of the bed and assuming you want something tall (30' or more) you could use Thuja occidentalis 'Hetz Wintergreen' aka 'Wintergreen'. I've personally measured the width of 35' specimens and they were 6-8' wide; most being 6' wide; 25-year specimens.

A screen of Thuja occidentalis 'Degroot's Spire' would require very close spacing. You could do it, but you would need a lot of plants and... growth-rate would be much slower than 'Hetz Wintergreen'.

'Taylor' juniper is a wonderful plant but it is a juniper and will be prone to losing its' foliage where sunlight cannot penetrate its' foliage, i.e. toward the fence. I have some 13' 'Taylor' junipers in unobstructed full-sun. Also, junipers are not pleasant to the touch while Thuja/Arborvitae, are..

I don't know if I've helped much, but, 'Hetz Wintergreen' is an ideal plant in that location that you could space 4' apart and they'd look good for life.

Dax

Sounds like troubled plants from the start-the term 'very small root balls'-being the most pertinent, I think. Norway spruce, whether straight species or cultivar, is an easy and non-fussy plant. The fact these went into decline so soon after transplant suggests to me that their health was compromised already, most likely at digging.

+oM

Yes, I also think they came predisposed to failure by how they were handled before purchase. The loss of all new growth was a dramatic occurrence indicating a severe problem.

Indeed, +oM & Embrothrium.

Dax

Probably bad digging when they were B&B'd. Plus bad handling which result in a small rootball. They didn't have much of a chance as soon as they were dug. That said, it looks like they may make it, but it will take some time. Moving them now might be a bit risky.
The Denver Botanical Garden is a nice place to visit to see what you can grow.
Mike

So what to do now.

I could warranty the trees that's option 1. But my Home Depot replacement options are limited in columnar varieties to column blue spruce and norway spruce.

Since they're semi alive option 2 would be to leave them where they are to see what kind of new growth I get this year. If they pick up, I could let them mature for some amount of time and then select the best two to move out from the fence? If I do that, could I bother you all for some pruning advice on these? I would think I'd want to give it another month before touching them, but then what? Since all the new growth died last year, where do you prune last years dead growth back to? How about the leader? I'm pretty sure those are toast on at least two...

Option 3 would be replace with new cultivators. I like some of the suggestions made, but this option requires the most $$$.

Our fall temp swing did a number on conifer and deciduous trees. It'll take years to out grow the damage. There's some life in them yet. Since you know spacing is an issue, you could return some, the ones in the roughest shape, lost leaders or closest to the fence that have to go anyway. It sounds like you have to decide soon or lose the warranty. I'd keep a couple as an experiment. I'd not move the keepers this year but would carefully prune out what's dead when the buds extend or push. Use the big box credit/refund to buy mulch, annuals, tools, etc.

For ideas on what to plant, research what grows well here, narrow down your choices by your size requirements, then buy small from reputable nurseries.

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07403.html

You did pick a recommended tree for Colorado,

Do check out Denver Botanic gardens. I buy from Laporte Ave. Nursery in Fort Collins, also the Tree Farm in Longmont, Paulino Gardens in Denver and O'Toole's in Westminster.

Barb

That was the first thing I noticed, that it was the newest shoots only that died.