where is your galaxy???

dyi.. or hired out job???

instant gratification is hard with slow growing plants ....and i presume this means you are going with large plants.. be a bit more specific as to size???

what is your native soil .... does it drain well ... have you ever perked it ....

spacing is more about .. in your case .. establishing the site block.. rather than what is good for the plants ....

it might be to your benefit ... to discuss your choice of plant .... instead of taking that as a given .... are you in snowload country???

there is always the thought of not planting a monoculture ..... there are yellow versions of arbs ... for at least a visual break ... are deer an issue???

link below on planting .. watering.. soil.. mulching.. etc ... even if you are hiring it out.. be informed ....

a pic or two never hurts a discussion ....

ken

https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

oh.. size of yard????

In general, I would go with potted stock. More information would be helpful.

I dont know that it really matters in the long run.....

Potted stock is more likely to succeed, and it's cheaper.

Thanks for your responses, im zone 4 in MN. The soil is a mixture of clay & black dirt. The location I'm planting will be about 45 feet long. In the photo the tape is about 15-16 feet from the sidewalk. The direction the photos are facing is west, south-west. I'll be planting with the help of my brother. we can handle b&b.

Ken asked if you have snow load and that reminded me, we've had many large (overgrown) arborvitae in the area get bent over. Some multiple trunk ones, went in several directions, during a wet sticky snow with wind earlier this winter. Salvage would mean cutting them down to about 5 ft high and let them start again.

I'd say as long as you've got the room, a nice row of Picea Glauca would be more durable.

I've heard from local arborist that a fungus is attacking a lot of the black Hills & blue spruce in our area. He said they're not native to mn & that is part of the reason why. He said norway are doing well though.. The white spruce you've suggested bill would probably do better than the black or blue but I'm not sure if we want to go the spruce route even though it would tie into the existing black Hills & blue I've got on the west side there. I would be comfortable with hedging the arborvitae as well even though it wouldn't be a natural look. I'm young & yard work is a labor of love right now.

I've had a chunk of Techny get ripped off by a heavy ice and snow mix, so Bill's comment has merit as far as needing to consider possible snow damage. Mine have seemed to do OK with recovering shape if they have splayed but not broken and the one with a chunk ripped off has filled in again. IME spruces seem to deal with wet, heavy snow load better. The other possible issue with arborvitae is deer; if you have them, they may well have bare stems up to the height the deer can reach. If you decide to go with the Techny, see if you can get ones with a single trunk so they will be less likely to splay.

Aesthetically and practically, you might want to consider using a mix of evergreens unless you are determined to have the green wall effect created by all of one kind of plant. That way if something adverse arises (bugs, disease, deer, weather issues, etc) you won't lose your entire privacy hedge. It also means that if the growing conditions vary across the length of the hedge you won't have to be concerned about mismatched growth patterns.

Before you purchase anything "b&b", make sure the "ball" is sufficient enough for a sustainable root system. Too often these plants have severed roots that doom them before they are even re-planted. I've purchased a few myself, with poor results.

I would not be uncomfortable asking the nursery owner to inspect the roots before making such an investment of money, time and labor. I'm glad (envious, really!) that you are young and full of energy. Make wise choices now, my friend. Such will not always be the case ;-)

Best of luck!

Thanks again for the great advice! All this has me thinking that spruce or fir might be a better choice. If I go that route I'll look into having them installed with a tree spade. In MN, would you suggest balsim fir as a good option? The wife likes how they look.

What about planting about 4 5-6ft tall norway spruce, then in front of them you can plant rhododendrons. Make sure the norway spruce are about 15' from the sidewalk then plant the rhododendrons about 5 feet in front of them. With what space you have left, plant something for summer and fall interest. It would be a push (for hardiness and space) but japanese maple 'fireglow' would add a nice touch.

It would have to be rhododendrons hardy in Zone 4. Here the arborvitaes that fall open to a noticeable degree are the columnar forms, with several parallel main branches.

If we get snow (sometimes we will get 2-6 inches, nothing more) you will see leyland cypress literally bending over.

Balsam fir are shallow rooted so can be prone to wind throw. They'll need to be protected from deer until they get larger and they like it a bit on the wet side. You have good soil for them so they should like what you have.

Okay, if the balsim fir are shallow rooted, I'll cross them off the list. We've had some crazy wind & I'm not even out in the open. I like the Norway Spruce & rhododendrons idea Logan. Thanks!

You are welcome! I basically stole the idea from the biltmore estate driveway.

when it comes to root balls, arbs are one of the most forgiving plants.

correct spacing? this is like going down the rabbit hole that's been seeded with landmines. some people are going to flip out over whatever is said.

one of the nice things about arbs is closer doesn't really bother them. want that screen to fill in faster? go with arbs and plant them a little closer. in a straight row, I'd be looking at about 5-6', closer if desired. don't forget to checkout some of the types selected for resistance to winterburn...local nurseries should be able to help you. double row, staggered, generally twice as wide in the row.

container or B&B? without seeing plants to look at, no way to answer this. each has advantages for specific purposes, each has disadvantages relative to the other. for the record, direct spading is just about as close to B&B as it gets.

what type of plant to plant? here's where you just have to find something you like. opinions are...well, the adage is old, well known, and always applies. find what you like. If you're close to the twin cities, check out the MN landscape arboretum. late winter is a great time to go, evergreens are usually at their worst this time of year. You should be able to see prime examples of why resistance to winterburn merits mention. Specifically, Pinus strobus compared to Pinus cembra.

speaking of winterburn...lots of wind, and the suggestion is...rhododendron? does someone else want to take this one?

So who said something about black hills/white spruce and disease pressure? Colorado/blue spruce, yes. white spruce? unless you have some strange local environmental conditions, I kinda doubt it. I'd look into that one a little more.

Here's where I'm going to torque people off. I have a rather different view when it comes to people messing around with root balls of most kinds...mostly because I grow plants with the intention to harvest them B&B. I don't work in retail nurseries any more, and this issue is part of it. degree in horticulture? check. certified nursery professional in every state I've ever lived? check. you watched a youtube video last night and know more than I do after many years of experience? also check. (choice words deleted...and it's the ones I invest that are doozies)

one things people who come from outside of the upper midwest...and Madison is part of the balmy southland in this context...but one thing people don't realize unless you've a) dealt with nursery stock and b) lived there and elsewhere, but good lord do the people who grow plants up there have large rootballs! There's a corollary to that for nursery growers, and that's to dig the root ball to the size specified by a customer...if they are asking for a specific size that's not your standard, there's a reason for it, and it's on their end, not yours. Locally grown material has rootballs that would be considered massive (relative to the size of the plant) elsewhere.

whereabouts are you in MN?

Thanks for your responses Wayne, I live in South Central MN. A local arborist who runs a tree care co. warned me about using Colorado blue & black Hills. He said they've been getting calls & a lot of those spruce are getting a fungus. Once the tree gets it, it's almost impossible to get rid of & the tree eventually dies. I can't remember what he called the fungus. Might have been Stigmina lautii. I like the way the black Hills spruce looks & feel 3 of them moved in with a tree spade would look great. The tree mover I spoke to today said Norway aren't easy to find in nurseries around here because they blow over easily. Shallow roots system like balsim fir. I don't often see a norway in the local nursery he's got a point. He's got 11' techny & several other conifers. All of his trees would be put in with a tree spade.

trey,

FWIW: I just saw a row of arborvitae of some variety planted some time ago that is about 16' tall and planted only 3ft apart just down the street. Very nice looking screen, single row but nice & dense. The snow didn't seem to affect them.

Bill, were they narrow & more columnar? Possibly emerald green or the north pole variety? Or did they look like the nice dence deep green wider techny arb variety? Did they appear to be hedged? I don't mind knocking snow off of my plants if it means keeping them healthy. At 45 feet I could plant quite a few of them if spaced that close. I've seen several arborvitae screens in my town that are nice. I personally think the techny is a better looking variety. Good habitat for small birds as well.

They were meshed together quite well. Not visibly pruned. I'm thinking 6 ft wide/thick. Looked more like a wall. Only the last few feet at the top were columnar. They put a few at each end to make a "[" shape facing the yard. Very close to the street curb, with no sidewalk. Color was hard to say this time of year but I've walked past them during the summer and admired the healthiness they display. Darker green?

Techny is a quite dark green, dense, and mine are wide, about 1/2 of the height or a bit more. They are 10' high or perhaps a bit more having been planted from pots at around 4 1/2' after 1 fall/winter plus 8 full growing seasons. Other than the one chunk ripping off in very heavy snow that damaged many other plants, it has done well, including surviving many other heavy snows and ice unscathed. This will be their 10th winter. Here one is in mid-June after planting the previous October. The spiral trellises are 5'.

If you have access to a backhoe and dig a ditch instead of one hole per plant, it sure makes things easier. Filling the ditch in is way easier than digging holes and then back filling them. Being young is no reason to make things more difficult. :-)

I took a couple photos of a nicely hedged row of techny in my town. They're planted about 4.5'-5' on center & stand about 12' tall. Very nice looking hedge. While I do like that look, I'm thinking staggering them would look better & more natural.

here's where your perception and preferences play a part. if you want a staggered look, you're the one who has to be happy, it's your money, help me I'm running out of clichés.

How fast are cars going on that road? If they kick up salt spray, you need to consider this list.

tj

Not very fast. The plants will be far enough away from the road to avoid salt spray.

Trey,

Here's a couple of pics of the hedge I mentioned earlier. Looks a lot like what NHBabs posted. Sorry, just phone pics as I was passing by after work.

Close up at this end in the sun.