no damage except shading

those get big without pruning,,,but will take MANY years

ron

Thanks Ron. The roses have been there 4 years so will outpace the arbovitae. Thanks. I was also wondering if I buy dormant 12-18" little giants when do I plant them?

For a zone 7a, I would look at other BLE choices before I'd select any conifer, dwarf or not. What about something like Japanese holly (Ilex crenata) which is a boxwood substitute and takes pruning and training into a formal looking hedge much better than an arborvitae would? Or germander (Teucrium chamaedrys), which rarely needs any pruning at all.

Thanks gardengal. I want something that stays round that doesn't need much pruning

This is the look I am going for except with roses.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/01/14/6c/01146c97ac251faaf014572127f1f107.jpg

the ones in your pic are heavily sheared.. at least once.. and maybe twice a year ..

and these are trees ... and in tree time.. counted in decades ... not many roses will outgrow them ... without shearing or pruning .... we arent talking about rambler type roses.. based on that pic ...

big city name.. is better than a random zone number ... z7 long island is a bit different than z7 alabama... e.g. ...

as to damaging each other.. doubt it ... and in your pic.. the shade tree would be a bigger problem with full sun roses....

if a plant is dormant.. plant it whenever you want ... best if everything else is dormant ... the idea would be to give the 4 to 6 weeks to get the roots settled and pumping.. before the heat of summer hits ... and as to a date.. we need to know where you are ...

ken

BTW: what the heck is a dwarf giant??? .. ponder that for a while ... lol ... marketing mumbo jumbo for sure ....

Thanks ken_adrian. I am in Long Island, New York. The area where I am planting them gets full sun all day long and I don't mind pruning once a year. Just don't want to purne more than that. I think the crazy name is because there is also a "green giant" arbovitae and they want to differentiate, but it's still crazy.

You can plant as soon as the soil can be worked,,,not wet

a ball of dirt in your hand should be able to crumble

ron

There are a number of dwarf forms of Thuja occidentalis grown with 'Little Giant' being classed by ACS as a very slow growing miniature.

Thuja occidentalis 'Little Giant' / Little Giant Dwarf Arborvitae | Conifer Trinomial | American Conifer Society

It was developed in 1970, at the McConnell Nurseries in Ontario, Canada. Gene Blythe was their head grower, and he raised many seedlings of this tree, and tested them for form, hardiness, and vigor. He selected several, all beginning with the word ‘Little’ and ‘Little Giant’ is one of his best selections.

Little Giant Arborvitae Shrubs For Sale | The Tree Center

Thanks for the links Embothrium

Notice that the second site makes it sound perfect for your goals in more than one way but that it also says it reaches 4' by 4' in time. So you should anticipate this eventual outcome when laying out your planting if you wish it to hold up indefinitely. For one thing close shearing of any kind of shrub leads to stubble and "dead zones" starting to appear at some point if an annual outward progression is prevented by cutting back to the same point repeatedly. In other words you can slow growth with shearing but you cannot stop it entirely without the specimen starting to become shabby looking along the way. This is particularly apt to be seen with conifers because these tend to concentrate their foliage near the outside of the plant, with most kinds not able to sprout new growth much from older stem sections back inside.

Thuja occidentalis 'Little Giant’

Look at 'Tom Thumb'- they stay a tad smaller.

These have been in place about ten years now and I've never touched them.

Thanks cearbhaill I will look into it.

Also cearbhaill and anyone else who knows. What is your opinion on Hetz Midget Arbovitae. Just saw some at my local Home Depot for a really good price.

Also very small for very long and very round. My 20 year old plant is at most 4x4.

tj