Privacy trees/shrubs???

[fishaholic18]

Originally Posted by ProfessorM

BTW did you ever get that rod from Mr. Assylum?

Negative..He's a hard guy to track down...

[ProfessorM]

He was just at my house this week. I will start sending him nasty e-mails once a week to guilt him into it. Nothing works like guilt. I am Irish, I know.

[bloocrab]

Did your trees show up yet?

[Sgt_Nutz]

How did you guys make out last season with the Cypress? Specifically, did they survive the deer?
Paul, how are your Hemlocks making out? The deer did a number on EVERYTHING I have EXCEPT the Canadian Hemlocks. I planted them from bare root 2' mail orders a few years back and they are doing tremendously! No sign of that bug.

[Gloucester2]

I planted a screen of arborvitae (not sure of the variety) along one side of my yard to block a view of the pool from the street and they have grown about 4 feet in three years . . . they are beginning to grow through the chain link fence.


ProfessorM - how aggressive can I trim the fence side of the shrubs without killing them? They were the perfect solution for me - I bought them as 5 -6 foot shrubs from a local grower and they are now a perfect 10 foot pool screen - just gotta maintain them - or she'll kill me

[ProfessorM]

They take pruning good. just try to keep them in a semi pyramid shape, larger at bottom than top, dia. wise. You can lop them off at 10 foot and keep them there with constant pruning every year. Not too much hassle. I wish the previous owner of my house did that as mine are 50 foot high now and out of the question for me. I wouldn't cut them flat up the tree to the top from bottom on the fence side. Try to leave bottom a little larger if possible. You will learn as you go to how much you can take off from year to year. You really can't kill the tree, but you can make it look ugly. Just take off some this year and see what happens thru out the year as too how much grows back and next year adjust for that. You just don't want them to get too tall as they will be tough to get at, so height should be kept at bay. Hope that helps.

[cableguy]

I went with the "10 Thuja Green Giant Arborvitae 3- 3 1/2 Feet Tall"

Planted 5 of those last year.....they seem to be doing well.....they are supposed to grow very fast...

[Gloucester2]

Thanks very much that is exactly the type guidance I needed - like I said The Queen thinks 10 feet is perfect and expects the gardner to keep them that way