Thuja Green Giants: my experience

18 years ago

I just thought I'd describe my ~2 yr experience with my Green Giant plantings.

I was worried that none of my 20 or so Green Giants were in "full sun" locations. In fact, most are probably only getting 2 hours of direct sunlight followed by dappled.

In spite of this, they are doing great.

I have 10 of them planted within a couple feet of the road sides and precariously on the edge of a steep drop off, and they are doing well (again, with minimal sun). The soil is weird, too, because it consists of lots of asphalt-crunchy landfill stuff.. so it's not ideal soil conditions at all.

Most of the plants have more than doubled in size.. maybe tripled from their original 15" height, and this is with that horrible freeze last spring followed by the drought. I expect this will be the first season that they REALLY grow.

In spite of the partial-shade, none of the plants look leggy or stressed.

I did water them last summer... a real pain because those ten up by the roadside/cliff are difficult to water because they are tough to access AND the water wants to run right off down the cliff. It is a time consuming process letting the water drip into the soil.

OK, so that's it.

I couldn't find any home spun reports about Green Giants when I bought them, so I thought I'd post one here for fellow Googlers.

Kelton

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Comments (7)

behaviorkelton
Original Author
18 years ago
While I'm at it...

I just returned from the local Super Wal-Mart, and they have these Green Giants for $4.95.

That's cheaper than anyplace I have been to include online sellers.

Granted, these aren't exactly the high-brow plants typically discussed in these forums!
neophytegardener
18 years ago
Wow--you must have a great Super Wal-Mart. I think mine only has petunias, pansies, and dirt! LOL

I bought about 12 Thuja 'Steeplechase' from Wayside Gardens last year. They are supposed to be derived from 'Green Giant', but better because they are supposed to be denser and with no 'candlewicking' at the top.

They grew very well, despite the drought last summer because I spent lots of time watering them. However, the wintertime was a different story.

Although I mulched them well--about 4-5 inches, and although they are supposed to be very hardy in my zone, they have developed quite a bit of brown in them. Did they get too cold or is this normal? Do I need to prune them? Will they do this annually? Do I need to call Wayside Gardens and get a refund?
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behaviorkelton
Original Author
18 years ago
Neophyte,

I'm a neophyte gardner, too.. so I can't answer your question myself.

It is difficult to find a full sunny spot in Holston Hills, and I found it surprisingly difficult to find information on how various plants perform with various amounts of shade through the day.

I mean, fine, so a particular plant wants "full sun". The question is: What will it do if it gets part shade? Will it be sickly?... or just a wee bit more leggy?

Sorry I couldn't answer your question. I'm not familiar with the steeple chase Thuja.

Kelton
neophytegardener
18 years ago
Kelton,

I don't know. It may be that it just won't grow as full or as fast. Blooming plants needing "full sun" but get less are likely to just not bloom at all, but the plant may survive okay. It would seem reasonable that as long as the trees get some sun they will survive, but maybe just not look the way they might otherwise. Sorry if that's unhelpful.
behaviorkelton
Original Author
18 years ago
A drunk guy just careened down the road and squished about seven of my growing green giants.... this happened only a fewer hours ago.

Great... now dealing with insurance companies. Lovely.

Nothing terribly tragic... except for the poor guy with the drinking problem.
scooterbug
18 years ago
If you can get a hose up there get some 5 gal buckets and drill 2 or 3 holes in the bottom of each .
Place a bucket inside the weep line if each tree ..... fill with water and sit back and have a sweet tea ;-))

You can paint them so they look like decorations lol lol

I use this watering method with tomatoes and also smaller tropicals using milk jugs.

HTH,
Shirley
franklinjay
18 years ago
I don't post much, but thought I'd chime in on the green giants as well because I'm pretty happy with the results after reading mixed reviews.

I bought five for $30 each on clearance at Home Depot last fall, and they were all about six feet tall.

They are all well over eight feet now and putting on great new growth. When I planted, I top dressed with compost and mulched well. I've only watered once since last fall -- a couple of weeks ago -- where I put about half of a five gallon bucket on each.

We've had sufficient moisture otherwise, judging by my finger in the dirt test. Sounds like yours are doing great too... I imagine some of the bad luck people have had was the result of too much "love."