contact your COUNTY soil conservation district ....

a windbreak is such..

they will probably offer said conifers for sale at spring planting time..

ken

If they will have to grow among other trees avoid pines as these require full light to develop. Some kind of spruce might work out, or maybe the 'Green Giant' arborvitae is possible there. If you plant a mixture you do not have all your eggs in one basket, should one kind develop significant problems at some point. 500 ft. of bugs, blight or cold damage could be quite an eyesore.

C-Matt, when I see 'hedge', I think of a rather formal clipped row of a finely-textured plant. Is this your intent? Not saying it should or shouldn't be, but depending on what you're after, my recommendations would differ.

If it's the tightly sheared thing, then go with a conifer having small foliage size, like hemlock, yew, maybe even arbor vitae.

If it's more of a 'screen' you're after, then a great many possibilities open up, and I would generally agree with above comments to mix it up.

+oM

go to the link ...

ignore all the military stuff .... corpse of engineers ..... find the box .. and hit the link to your county soil/water conservation district..

call them ... and ask if they have sponsored plant sales in spring ... or if they know of other state forestry programs ...

in MI ... they offer arbs.. at one foot tall.. for something like 25 for $16 ....

and they also offer a plethora of other appropriate plants ... as noted .. diversify.. or one day down the road.. the 9th plague of the bible might wipe out your whole project ... so i recommend at least 3 different plants.. i might also suggest.. that you avoid a straight line at planting ....

your other resource would be musser forest.. google that.. and look into their windbreak section ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Thanks for the advice. Tom, I said hedge, but it will be nothing formal. I will only trim if needed at the start to encourage a good growing pattern. This is mainly a windbreak and privacy screen.

Weeping willows are FAST and my neighbor's is just now shedding leaves. Almost evergreen if they work in your zone.

Not that I would plant just those. Ditto the above responses.

Be aware in ten years the trees may shade eachother and you might lose some lower foliage. No biggie. You'll just get a chance to plant viburnum and other shrubs. If you can do a staggered row all the better.

I am going to use skyrocket juniper in a "S" path as a blind.
The reason is the plant is only 12-18 inches in diameter.
This plant will not take up as much room on the path as a Italian Cypress or Rousta Green Juniper.

C-Matt, I gotcha now. BTW, this IS my opinion only, but generally, conifers never "need" any pruning at all, beyond say, a branch that's half broken off by snow load or some such. Peeps sometimes think they have to help plants to achieve a proper shape or form, but I dare say, conifers are perfect already!

+oM

C-Matt,

Have you considered the Medora Juniper (Juniperous scopulorum 'Medora'? It is a beautiful nice bluish green color and they grow VERY fast.

Here is a photo of mine I took cuttings and these are about 8 years old. I don't have a photo of just the juniper itself but you can see them next to the white bench in the back right side of the photo.

{{gwi:634814}}

They are rock hardy and never need a trimming at all.