Thuja occidentalis 'Degroot's Spire' would foot the bill nicely, but of course trees never stop growing so it will eventually become larger.

Thank you Mr. Rees.

Has anyone had experience with the "Skyrocket" Juniper? It says it grows to a mature height 15-20'. Could it be pruned to maintain it at 10'?

If you get snow then you will not want 'Skyrocket'. The branches will splay out under snow load and will ruin the tight form.

You can maintain anything at 10' by chopping off the top, but this usually does not look good in my opinion. If you are looking to maintain a Narrow hedge then Taxus x media 'Hicksii' (Hicks Yew) would do the trick. It's a columnar yew that takes very well to shearing and can be easily maintained into the desired form.

Hicks Yew isn't the prettiest though. Perhaps someone else will have a suggestion for a nice zone 5 hedge.

zone 5 is half the US.. more specificity ...

conifers are trees .. they never stop growing ... all size estimates are at 10 years ... presume double in 20

one problem with your 10 to 15 foot height... is figuring out how you will be pruning them at said height... might be quite a problem with a ladder ... especially as you get older ...

how a bout a pic of the problem...

some junipers suffer tip blight.. not sure if skyrocket is one of them ...

which leads to the usual next comment... do not plant all of one kind.. in case some problem comes along in the future ...

and you are simply not going to find a plant that gets to that height.. and stays 2 feet wide ... again.. just like vertically ... they keep getting wider ...

ken

I have juniper sky rocket and it held up well last winter when we accumulated 3-4 feet of snow over the winter. It is inbetween the house and fence, so perhaps it is more sheltered. But the three feet of snow fell everywhere.

Arborvitae Emerald Green, cited by GG, all three did fine. Over the 10-12 years of growing these three I have become moderately more attentive to their splaying a little. I've carefully...and loosely....pulled interior trunks together with a "loop" of rope. Ken cautions against allowing more than one central leader but I have never been able to connect the description to what my smaargs actually look like. In any case, I feel like I've gotten my money's worth from these trees that still look good after drought, floods, sub zero and periodic temps above 100, and aforementioned blizzards.

Mr. Rees - Thank you for the caution with the 'Skyrocket' Juniper. I appreciate the suggestion of Hicks Yew as well. I'll have to look into that.

Ken - I am in Iowa (5B). Thank you for the tree size quote limitations. That is a good point about the pruning; it may not be practical. I'll upload a pic of the area this week. I will look into tip blight as well. I see where you are coming from about not planting all one kind.

gardengal - Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd' and 'DeGroot's Spire' were two I found in Dirr's and he seemed to like them enough to make mention of them in a neutral/positive light. Thank you for the pointers re: the Hicks Yew. I'll look into the 'Sky Pencil.'

Ms. Tulin - Thank you for relaying your personal experience with the 'Skyrocket' and snow. Thank you for your description of growing Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd' and your experience with quite varied weather (similar to Iowa).

-stu_tv

I have three Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd' which are now each about 2 ft wide and 15 ft tall. They are about 15 years old. I also have 6 smaller ones in a row towards a neighbor. I never had a problem with them, had never to prune them. These trees are easily available from Big Box stores in the 5-6 ft size at reasonable cost. With a little regular watering the first year they should grow nicely.

I also have two Thuja occidentalis 'Degroot's Spire' which are 2-3 ft wide and probably 20 ft tall, also problem free. Except you need to tie together somewhat the multi leaders. Any initial single leader plant will lateron develop multi leaders higher up.

I also have 2 Juniperus communis 'Gold Cone' which are wonderful in their appearance. Mine are about 2 ft wide and 10 ft high, also have no disease and grow easily. Good luck!

Do not buy any 'Green Giants' which after 20 years might be 40 ft tall and 20 ft wide, real giants.

sam_md: That is a fantastic looking tree. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be widely available/stocked.

bernd: I will need to look into the 'Smaragd's' in more detail. The 'Gold Cone's' are quite stunning.

Thanks,

-stu_tv

Juniperus virginianus 'Taylor' fits your bill perfectly. Unfortunately, very hard to find. As far as I've been able to determine, only Sooner plant farm in OK carries it, very expensive and you'll faint when you see the shipping charge. That said, I've ordered Taylors from them twice because they fit what I needed like nothing else. Sooner ships good quality plants of good size.

BTW, heavy snow has never been a problem.

There is no reason whatsoever to conclude that 'Smaragd' "tops out" at a mere 15'. Hence the report above of 15' in 15 years. I have seen a field of intermixed 'Smaragd' and 'Fastigiata' in Oregon that were all about the same size, as though growth rates and mature sizes were comparable; 'Fastigiata' 35' tall are known in Seattle plantings, and 'Smaragd' (17' tall at South Seattle Community College, 10 years ago) has only been prevalent here since the late 1980s.

No one said Smaragd "tops out" at 15' - only that it seldom exceeds that height after a considerable amount of time. I know of many local plantings of this selection that have been in place for 30-40 years - unpruned - and are still right around 15-18' tall. And this is here in the PNW where plants tend to grow faster and larger than in many other parts of the country. Various sources also report that "growth slows dramatically" at about 15' and that it can "infrequently" reach 20'.

I still think this is a perfectly reasonable choice for a zone 5 situation.

I second Laceyvail on Taylor, but as she said, they are hard to find other than Sooner. I have a couple suggestions to check out - Juniperus chinensis 'Trautman'(may be hard to find locally), Thuja occidentalis 'Hetz Wintergreen', 'Zmatlik', and 'Jantar'(yellow).

Marshall

laceyvail - The Taylor junipers look nice. I am concerned the would grow beyond the 20' height as some sites list them at 30'. I only see them at Sooner as well and the price is a little bit of a shock.

Embothrium and gardengal48 - Thank you for the height discussion.

mrgpag - The Trautman juniper appears to fit the bill almost perfectly. I'm going to see if I can track any of these down locally. 'Wintergreen' looks a little on the large side. 'Zmatlik' and 'Jantar' might be a possibility although they seem on the smaller side height-wise.

-stu_tv

stu_tv, if you get up toward Minneapolis-St. Paul, Gertens Garden Center in Inver Grove Heights had quite a few Trautman last time I was up that way. Nice Sunday drive up I-35 or US 52 depending on where you live, but call them first.

Marshall

Anyone have experience with Taxus x media Viridis? One site said the following though: "This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid, and parts of it are known to be toxic to humans and animals, so care should be exercised in planting it around children and pets." Is this just standard boilerplate language or do I have something to be concerned about with this species/cultivar? Thanks, -stu_tv

It's just boilerplate - ALL yews are considered to have a significant degree of toxicity (as do a great many other plants, some to a much greater degree). But unless you or any of your kids or pets routinely graze on your landscape plantings, there is little reason for concern.

Marshall

Rarefied has several Peve Minaret Bald Cypress if mail-order works and you don't mind deciduous. I saw them personally and they are in good shape. Only about 3 feet tall, but with time you could have something truly unique.