you will get a lot further.. and deeper with research.. if you use the latin names of the plants you are interested ...

regardless ... they are trees... you are living in a more instant gratification time frame ... than trees live in ...

and it doesnt help them getting established if you were not watering them properly since planting ...

be nice to know where you are.. to discuss vigor .... what you got.. on the ones that didnt die.. is about all i would expect in my MI ...

most likely .. a faster solution .. in tree time.. would be another deciduous tree in the opposite corner ... and that is because the houses behind are 2 story ...

smargard is not going to get that tall in a decade .... if that is in fact.. the plant you bought .... as it only grow 6 to 9 inches per year.. see link.. couple down for rate ....

ken

https://www.google.com/search?q=Thuja+occidentalis+%27Smaragd%27.&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Thanks Ken,

Yes the trees I have now are Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd'.

The trees that I'm wondering about for a faster growing specimen include:

- Thuja occidentalis

- Thuja 'Green Giant'.

I am in southern Ontario - Zone 5b.

Thanks!

Dale.

Metasequoia and weeping willows are the fastest I like. Neither are evergreen, both hold foliage late in the year, especially the willow.

You need what, a 20 to 25 foot tall tree to give privacy. The willow should get there in 5 years. They are short lived though.

Metasequoia 8•3= 24 so maybe a decade given transplant shock and your somewhat cold climate.

Just keep in mind whatever you plant won't be a screen until after Obama's successor is out of office.

This has me thinking that maybe the emerald cedars are right for the yard and maybe I just need to wait for them. The Degroots Spire seems like a pretty similar tree to the Emerald Cedar. Ken, you have a good point that the tree just isn't going to stop at 30 feet.

The Metasequoia and willows are pretty. I also like the idea of the trees holding foliage late in the year. I'm just a bit worried about them getting out of control in my small yard.

Any other recommendations? What do you think about my plan of just letting the climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea petiolaris) fill in the spaces between the trees through training along the fence?

3-4 ft. spacing is for long term development - it will be many years before this planting becomes solid. Use mulch and watering to speed up the growth of these conifers - 'Smaragd' grows fast enough under nursery conditions for mass quantities of rather large - yet comparatively inexpensive - specimens to be on the general market year after year.

Yes, the maple will be stunting the part of the hedge that comes near or beneath it - nothing you can do about that (except for mulching and watering) short of cutting the maple down.

Climbing hydrangea is slow to establish and cling to intended supports, so that may bother you also. But eventually grows large, at which point you will have a wood fence with a big clinging vine stuck to the front of it. What will you do when parts (or all) of the fence have to be repaired or replaced?

Another way to block unwanted views is to plant or install screening where you are looking from most of the time, instead of in the part of the property closest to the view. A common example of this is blinds or curtains on windows - if you have a picture window or an outdoor sitting area you are looking from a lot maybe you can put something like a small tree, some shrubs, fencing or a trellis near where that is and get quicker relief that way. This would also prevent the aforementioned problem of screening trees tall enough to make the buildings disappear when you are standing and looking from near the existing fence being too tall for the size of your lot.

Thanks Embothrium.

In my online research, it appears that you can simply cut away the aerial roots of the hydrangea when the fence needs to be replaced. I know that the hydrangea can get heavy so I'm a bit worried about the premature deterioration of the fence. I was just really hoping for some good privacy in the summer and maybe training the hydrangea up high enough so that some of the limbs provide a bit more privacy in the winter when the maple's leaves fall.

I've thought about planting a large trellis where we look out the back door, but bylaws require a 2 metre distance for the trellis from the property line. That would put the trellis in a strange place in front of the maple.

We are working with small trees: Gladiator crabapples and a rowan for privacy on the sides, much like you describe.

Privacy is a struggle in this neighbourhood where huge houses have been placed on tiny lots.

I appreciate your input Embothrium!

The hydrangea sticks to surfaces in the same fashion as ivy (Hedera) or Boston ivy (and Virginia creeper) - there would be no practical way to remove it from a wood structure as part of a maintenance routine.

In winter it looks like a bunch of roots - the effect along the top of the fence would be a brown haze that did not go very high above it. And would take many years to develop.

In summer its comparatively large leaves would make your outdoor space look smaller, and would not be a good backdrop for the fine textured arborvitaes. Normally you want to have fine textured, evergreen plants being the backdrop to coarse textured, deciduous ones.

If a trellis was to be used for what I was talking about it would be erected at the location from well within the property from which you were looking - and not over by the existing fence, where the new buildings appear the largest. Think, again, of blinds on windows (or putting your hands over your eyes) - you make the view go away by in effect screening yourself, rather than the view.

I wanted to thank everyone for their contribution. I have a few other thoughts that I wanted to bounce off people:

- What about taking the existing Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd' and planting Thuja occeidentalis (Eastern White Cedar) between them? It wouldn't solve the height problem but would perhaps give more fullness to the hedge?

- I have also been thinking about Thuja occidentalis 'Hetz Wintergreen' to replace the existing cedars. Do you think the Hetz would have a faster growth rate than the Smaragd?

The typical species will lack the density of the 'Smaragd', grow wider and crowd them. And disrupt the planting visually, same as the hydrangea would.

The 'De Groot's Spire' is narrower than 'Smaragd' so you will have less screening afterward unless you use a closer spacing. And it does not have the same dense attractive foliage - there are reasons why 'Smaragd' has become the highly popular, dominant selection. If you want to increase density immediately with additional planting, while keeping the existing installation of 'Smaragd', then plant more 'Smaragd'.

Perhaps you could plant the new Smaragds between, and in front of, the old ones.

Costco was selling 6 to 8 footers this last Spring for less than $25 a piece here.

Mike

I believe I would just stick with what you have already started- they should have great roots going by now and if you tear them out and replace them you will be starting from scratch all over again.

Mulch them really well, water them regularly, and next spring push their growth a bit with some light nitrogen fertilizer. And hope the people on the other side plant trees.

That Hydrangea is slow as molasses....

There is a lot of die back on the back of the 3 larger cedars in the middle. Is it worth trying to mulch and water them?

I like it as is way better than if you had a full Thuja hedge.

1) I'd mulch the base with white smooth river pebble stones

2) or with pine bark (not wood chips) and add some Juniperus chinensis Aurea or other crawlers.

Mulch and water is a good idea. They will grow faster. The dead growth is due to the shade of the fence. Any growth above the fence will be just fine.

As it is it will be years before that hedge will grow together. They're placed too far apart for any privacy in the near future. That's why I recommended planting some more between and in front of the existing ones.

White stones are almost impossible to keep clean and a real pain to remove once you realize it.

Juniper chinensis 'Aurea' is not a crawler.

Mike

Small shrub? They spread in all directions and don't go beyond knee high. Point being is to add some spark to the dull base of the fence, thus the Golden Juniper + pine bark, or white/grey pebbles (which I never had to clean with anything but a hose).

BTW I'm not trying to make lemonade out of OP's situation. I really like the individual trees, the whole yard layout. Can be spruced up with few landscape tricks and I think it has potential to be brilliant.

Juniperus chinensis 'Aurea' is a tree. You are talking about golden Pfitzer junipers here.

norway spruces are the fastest growing conifers hands down! as they get older they have nice drooping branches. they are popular for screens , windbreaks and lumber here in maine due to their fast growth. you usually can get them cheap too. canadian hemlock make nice hedges and are shade tolerant. they wouldn't be affected by the shade of the fence as much. you could fill in between the cedars to make a full hedge but they grow almost as slow as your cedars. they have very pretty soft blue green needles. my 2 cents ! good luck!

Norway Spruce is completely out of scale for this situation. So is Canadian Hemlock unless you want a lot of continual work in shearing them. And there's the adelgid problem with them in a lot of areas.

Mike

Canadian hemlock is basically being wiped out by adelgids.

i agree the spruces may be too big but hemlocks are easy to keep small esp. in part shade . mine were planted at 3ft. 3 years ago and are 7ft. now with no shearing. we don't have a problem in maine with the adelgids as we have lots of hemlock everywhere! montreal is only 5 hrs. west of me. dung mine our of our local forest. they are the nicest and easiest growing of all my bushes.

Over one-third of the native range of hemlock in the eastern US is now
infested with HWA. A quarantine has been established for Maine, New
Hampshire, and Vermont. Nevertheless, southern areas of all three of
these states now have pocket HWA infestations.

https://extension.umaine.edu/home-and-garden-ipm/common-name-listing/hemlock-woolly-adelgid/

well maybe southern areas but so far there isn't a problem here. I'm in the woods all the time , talking to the foresters, and I've never heard of it mentioned around here.

Very sorry to hear about the adelgids which I never heard of before! Hemlocks are such beautiful trees. I planted some once back when I lived in Pennsylvania.

Dale's problem wasn't really solved..... I have the same problem - tall houses on tiny lots behind me, and a row of oh-so-slow growing emerald cedars along my fence. My lot seems to be much deeper than Dale's so I planted deciduous trees closer to the house. They will block the view in the summer and don't need to get as tall as the cedars because they are closer to the house.

Dale - what did you do for faster privacy?

Thanks Vina. Actually your comment is quite timely as we have ended up moving. A number of factors made our wants for the house too incompatible with the space we had. We have moved to a ravine lot backing onto a creek and it was well worth the time and money.

With the house you see in the picture, I had made some last ditched attempts at privacy. I pulled out all the Emerald Cedars and removed the maple tree. I sourced out a local grower of Hetz wintergreen and planted them last year. I suspect the Wintergreens will grow much faster than the Emerald Cedars and give more privacy.

Best of luck with you efforts with the deciduous trees!

Dale.