This is the front view of where the cedars would be (between the back of the deck and fence). Also wanted to mention that our back yard gets full sun from late morning to sunset. The bottom 2-3 feet of the tree would be sheltered from the deck/pool.

no ... not wide enough of a space...

look into Thuja occidentalis 'Degroots Spire' ... see link ..

and insist on single leader specimens ..

speak with darren at whistling gardens.. or some such.. lol.. for the life of me.. i cant retain the name of this canadian conifer source...

constant water can be a problem.. depending on soil drainage ... advise as to soil type if you want to discuss ....

ken

ps: nothing you find at bigboxstore will fit in that space.. so do it right ....

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Hi Ken,
Thanks so much for your comments. I was considering Degroots, but They only grow to 6' and our fence is 6'. We would like something that goes beyond.
Our soil type is red clay.
And no worries - we were always planning on going to a respectable nursery for our plants.
Any other suggestions would be most welcome. I will look up Whistling gardens :)
Denise

Sorry Ken, I misread your link - I thought the Degroots spire was a max of 6'. My bad.

well dont tell my 12 footer that ... and BTW... it grows fast than the smarsgard.. aka emerald green ...

almost all size ESTIMATES .. for conifers.. are at 10 years... mine is 14 years old ...

google the latin .. and add ANNUAL GROWTH RATE... and you will probably find.. it grows about a foot per year... in canada.. that would be 12 inches.. lol ...

large transplants take time to get established.. and in the long run.. the low stuff between pool and fence.. might not thrive with the lack of sun ... but the top part should do fine ...

frankly.. that site is a nightmare.. for what you are trying to accomplish with plants .. for the garden aspect.. otherwise is brilliant.. dont get me wrong ...

you might think about two stout poles.. and some sail cloth .. that you raised like a flag when using the pool.. and then lowered after.. should zoning laws allow such ... see link

good luck

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: there has to be a better descriptive word.. but its eluding me ... talk with your pool designeer for ideas that us garden folks might not be aware of.. i am really concerned.. that this can be solved with plants ...

In canada 1' = 30.48cm - we don't use inches either... or, we're not supposed to but everyone measures in feet and inches here anyway. Except when we shop at IKEA, and we are FORCED to convert. haha.

Yes, I do realize that the site will be a challenge for sure - my hubby and his dad masterminded the huge deck thing and now i'm left to figure out landscaping -ack!

I'm not sure about zoning for erecting things beyond a certain height. Our town is a stickler for their bylaws. Up until a year or two ago they didn't even allow clotheslines! (not aesthetically pleasing enough apparently, but thankfully environmental consciousness won out in the end).

Maybe we just do some trellis and vines. Might be a trial and error type thing. Thankfully, we have a big side yard to get more green into our lives. ;)

Thanks again for your help Ken and if you think of anything else, please let me know!
:)

Emerald cedars are a pain in the butt. Their biggest attribute is that they stay bright green all year, except that they suffer bad bad bad browning in harsh winters and take all summer to recover ( if they don' die). Mine don't want to grow at all. This year i am wrapping the cedars in winter so they at least look nice in the summer.

If i were you i would plant a white cedar hedge about 6-8 ft and wait for it to grow. They are less showy but much hardier and will grow very tall ( 25 ft) which it looks to me that you could use.There are lots of ads on kijiji for people who sell these. Save the emerald cedars for a low hedge (6 -7 ft)requirement in a protected area ( not south).

'Smaragd' has been measured 17 ft. tall in Seattle and I may have seen older examples planted before it became popular here that are more than double that height - the only question being if these are in fact 'Smaragd' and not one of the many other cultivars of T. occidentalis that have been named and grown. (If I become interested enough to take the trouble I could find out if any of these are 'Smaragd' by comparing foliage samples). Since there are 'Fastigiata' known over 40 ft. tall and the other two cultivars ('De Groot's Spire', 'Smaragd') discussed here aren't dwarf forms either I fully expect them to grow as tall as well, given enough time.

'Smaragd' is exceptionally prone to root rot, with internet queries about established hedges browning out and dying in sections having been rather numerous in the past. If this is a low, damp place another cultivar (or different species entirely) would probably be less of a gamble.

If you plant an assortment of different plants there is more visual interest and less risk (if one or two kinds fail there is still the others, unlike when the one that falters and dies out makes up the entire planting) than with a row of one kind. And in this case the row of one kind being columnar conifers would produce a tense effect (like soldiers at attention) that seems at odds with relaxing in and around a pool.

Also when you have an evergreen hedge right next to a wood fence the hedge may rub on the wood or keep it damp. There is also the problem of access to the fence or hedge for maintenance and repair being blocked by the close proximity and crowding. And when planting around swimming pools you want to choose plants with large parts that will not be easily and continuously sucked into pool filters or be hard to fish out of the water. The fine-textured debris of arborvitaes seems like it could be a nightmare in this situation.

You are probably going to have to come up with an architectural solution such as arbors or trellises in order to get some screening on that side. If codes prohibit this then I guess you are stuck with being the neighborhood spectacle, out in the open like at a motel pool.

Erecting a structural screen would also give much quicker relief than a hedge planting, which will take years to size up - how many summers do you want to wait for your increased privacy?

This post was edited by bboy on Wed, Dec 10, 14 at 14:55

Here are my emerald cedars 1st spring after planting.

And here they are 4 yrs later this summer.Note the height of the serviceberry trees planted at the same time. Any ideas why these cedars wont grow?

Bboy usda8 - lucky you. But we are here in canada in your zone 4 or 5 ( which they call 5 or 6 here in canada just to confuse us). This spring the nurseries ran out of emerald cedars due to everyone losing them this past winter. I would say now that they are barely hardy here. Most years yes - some years not so much.

Tried to post this picture - here is what mine looked like this spring after a bad winter. This fall i wrapped them ( im a slow learner))

What really ticks me off about this us i knew the house next door would be torn down soon so i tried to plant ahead for some privacy. The black cedars are really nice but expensive. Wish i'd planted them instead. Their winter color around here isa good dark green all winter.

My cedars were probably mislabelled.

What really ticks me off about this us i knew the house next door would be torn down soon so i tried to plant ahead for some privacy. The black cedars are really nice but expensive. Wish i'd planted them instead. Their winter color around here isa good dark green all winter.

My cedars were probably mislabelled.

I have not read thru this entire thread but I would suggest T. o. 'Hetz Wintergreen'.

HW grows naturally as a single-leader plant and would work perfectly in the space you have.

Hetz Wintergreen is sometimes referred to simply as Wintergreen. Wintergreen grows quickly so you don't need to purchase large plants.
Mike