I want to plant some kind of cedar hedge along my driveway for privacy from my neighbors home. Right now there is simply a long row of lava rocks there. There is some landscaping cloth under the rocks. I've never planted cedars before. The location where I want to plant is on the west side of my neighbors house. Morning shade/afternoon sun. I have a couple of questions? 1. What type (names) of cedars should I get for hedges? I want to be able to trim them so they are tall and rectangular in shape. 2. Should I remove the filter cloth and the lava rock completely? 3. How far apart should I plant them? 4. Would it be best to use bark mulch or is rock okay? Your suggestions are greatly appreciated. By the way, if cedars don't work in this location, can you recommend something else? I'm looking for something like in this pic: http://www.stcatz.ox.ac.uk/media/buildings and gardens/Hedges 1.JPG
The pic you posted looks like Grand Fir, not what I would suggest as a hedge. Likely Smaragd cedars would be your best choice. Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd' 2. Should I remove the filter cloth and the lava rock completely? I dont use the weed cloth anymore, never was a big fan of it. Lava rock is very 80's and somewhat 90's in style, the current vogue is composted bark mulch. 3. How far apart should I plant them? Average is 24 to 36 inches on center.
The pic link shows a Yew Taxus baccata hedge - this makes a very good hedge, as it regrows very well even after being cut back hard and reshaped. The only down side is that it is slow to start, but equally, once it has reached the desired size, you only have to trim it once a year, not several times as with faster-growing species.
I'd never plant a grand fir for a hedge. Even in the wild they don't live too long - several centuries or less. Ours at near 80' tall at the new home is already scraggley at the bottom half, and I plan to remove it to give the Deodar cedar room. I'd shear a row of hemlock before a grand fir. The first post pic looks like Yew needles. They gradually shorten toward the tip consistently. Whereas grand fir has 3 different lengths of needles usually regardless of hedge or tree style. Both have a very nice green though. As for the lava rock - I don't like it personally. Debris is hard to clean from it. If the hedge was to be kept under 10', maybe a Wichita Juniper or something like that might be entertaining. But it needs to be pruned yearly. And I'd rather prune and thin selectively for that one rather than just shear it.
Both hemlock and true firs are pest-susceptible. Like hemlock and yew grand fir produces a good surface when sheared. Sheared hedges do not have the same appearance as unpruned specimens. A sheared hedge in a garden setting, perhaps even receiving pesticide applications may not present the same gaps and distortion as a relictual or unsprayed natural habit specimen. True firs in particular generally require good conditions to remain healthy.
For clarification - the linked pic in the first post is in Oxford, UK: http://www.stcatz.ox.ac.uk/ Yew is very commonly used as a hedge here; Grand Fir, never. It is also easy to identify the plants as yew, note the green year-old shoots (scroll across to right edge of photo), whereas Grand Fir has brown year-old shoots.
I have seen douglas fir used as a hedge here, ridiculous! Thuja is most common, taxus is not uncommon.
Thank you everyone for all your help. I checked out some pricing for cedars and I'm noticing that Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd' aren't as costly as some of the others. After planting the cedars, how long do you wait before shearing them into the shape that you want them? Thanks again to each of you for all your help.