Hi, I was wondering if anyone had any success with Thuja giants or the emerald green thujas this far up North. I am looking at adding to my privacy fence in the back yard and currently have swedish aspen on one side but really like the look and year round privacy of the Thuja. Perhaps there is something else that is fast growing that you could recommend? Any help would be appreciated as I am new to landscaping new yards. The backyard faces the East with a 6 foot fence already in place. Thanks
Arborvitaes (Thuja) are very popular, if your community is of any size and at all suitable you will surely see them elsewhere in town. Note that deer go for them in winter, if you have these wandering through your place that could become a problem (to have any kind of garden you really need to fence these and other herbivores out anyway).
Thank you for the reply. What I am meaning is that I am in Central Alberta and wondering if they can do well in this zone?
If you aren't seeing any around there at all that is not a good sign. Any local plant outlets there may be would stock these if they were possible, the 'Smaragd' cultivar in particular has become ubiquitous - a staple item at retail outlets trading in outdoor plants.
Thanks for the reply. We do have them around here now that I look. Another question is whether they will grow well up against a solid 6 foot vinyl fence. As well do neighboring trees have any effect on them?
They will grow here, but with caveats: * Tree form, with more open structures do better than the multi-stem pack those needles tight form. This comes from basic physics: In an open tree, the needles will be at ambient temperatures. In a dense pack, you get local rise in temperature. With that rise you get increased desiccation. Roots are frozen so they can't replace lost water. I expect this to get worse with climate change, as we will have warmer winters, but not shorter ones. * Locations on the south side of structures tend to be warmer on sunny days. They are protected from the steady breeze that on clear days tends to come from the NW, and are getting sun by reflection from the house, from the snow, and directly. Cedars planted as a yard tree do quite well. Overall they aren't popular, in part due to their olive winter colour. A tree form skybound or brandon might be quite attractive.
