you will get much further in your research on CONIFERS ... if you use the latin names ...

i know shrubs is a common name for these types of evergreens .. but said term wont get you very far.. using a search engine ...

as conifers are trees... they never really stop growing at some magical height ... and most size estimated in this world of plants is at ten years .. and you can easily presume.. they will be twice as large in every dimension in 20 years ..

your base problem is you want something to grow fast to height ... and then for it to either stops... or for you to beat back its annual growth by shearing or pruning ... and a lot of peeps are searching for such ...

your base problem with your 15 feet .. is that you will have to do all your pruning from a tall ladder .. or hire it out ...

a 6 foot person.. on top of an 8 foot ladder... is still only 14 feet ... and you are thinking about pruning one foot above that ... see the problem ... and any ladder over 8 feet is going to get heavy.. fast ...

there is a world of options out there in the conifer world.. if you look beyond bigboxstores common offerings .. which are the two plants you mention ...

and the best suggestions will come from knowing where you are.. and offering a pic of the situation ,...maybe even trying the conifer forum ...

good luck

ken

Thank you...

White swamp cedar could also be Chamaecyparis thyoides. Anyway 'Smaragd' is presumably so prevalent because a dense rich green cigar is what so many people want when they try to make instant fences out of living trees - other cultivars (including the older 'Fastigiata') have been left completely in the sidelines by this one, as standard item even at warehouse stores. So it is probably what you want also, although it does have the problem of being more drainage sensitive than usual for the species - resulting in numerous questions about why part of an often well established hedge has gone brown (mites can also do this).

Are you going to be climbing up to the top of a 15' ladder every spring to re-top your hedge? Set the ladder, climb up, prune, climb down, move the ladder, climb back up...

Otherwise you can set two ladders or other supports and work off a platform, like a painter.

But this will also have to be moved every time you get to the one end.

maybe I won't bother with the emeralds! I can get my hands on wild white cedar.. not sure if this is a god time to be digging them up though...

Not nearly as narrow and dense as 'Smaragd'.

what other privacy screen would other recommend?

Unless you have puddling the 'Smaragd' is probably the ticket. But if you want something shorter and broader maybe one of the broad-leaf evergreen hedges would be better. You don't say where you are, if the climate is not too cold local independent outlets may have a fairly wide range of possible options on display.

I'm north of Toronto.. so it gets COLD here!! Similar growing conditions central Michigan...

show us a pic of the area ...

ken

often.. there is a solution midway to a property line ... to create the sight block you might want ...

in other words.. lets step outside your box of a line of plants at the lot line... at least for a bit ...

ken

The big blue spruce on the left side of the pic is going to be cut down. It is on my neighbor's side... this is why I need to set up a privacy hedge... our poo will be exposed...

[IMG]http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa422/Splaker/IMAG1031_zpstrr5cbd8.jpg[/IMG]

you folks have been really helpful so far! Thanks...

I have a few other questions that I'll post soon.. Plant ID questions, landscaping ideas...etc

Hey what about dogwoods? Something like silver-leaf?

so you mean there is a neighbor behind the picea pungens .. latin dude ...

and where are you thinking to put the hedge???? near pool... or out by the pungens????

please dont expose your poo .... lol ...

ken

I thought Rome fell? ;)

Along the fence next to the "pung"

I'll keep my poo in the toilet bowl

The hedges will go beyond the pictured area...

I also want to hedge the other side of my yard, possibly with some cedars...or some deciduous shrub, like dogwoods... now there are arrowhead (viburnums) that look a bit sickly due to some pesky beetle lavae

Viburnums are pretty crappy...two are completely bare in my front yard (Euro snowballs) due to these pests...

The problem is the recently prevalent viburnum leaf beetle and not the viburnums.

sure but it's obviously a weak plant...