be nice to know where you are

ken

Oops, PA zone 7.

Taxus baccata 'Standishii'. Deer hate golden foliage. Yews are so easy to prune as well so when the day comes that you'd like to keep it in check, there's no thinking to it, just prune at any place and new buds will arise.

Dax

upright narrow column ? Picea Omorika 'Pendula Bruns'.

John N.

Picea omorika 'Pendula Bruns' is my fav and I may have to add a 'Standishii'.

if you are looking for something formal then perhaps

Thuja occidentalis 'Jantar'

Or

Thuja occidentalis 'Degroot's Spire'

Deer love Thuja occidentalis, so those wouldn't last long . They don't really like standishii x plicata (ex. Green Giant), but none of those fit the bill size wise. Dax, that is interesting about the golden foliage, never knew that. Otherwise, Taxus is deer candy, while Cephalotaxus is left alone, except maybe in starvation scenarios.

I'd recommend:

Cephalotaxus harringtonia 'Korean Gold'

Cephalotaxus harringtonia 'Fastigiata'

or a non-conifer solution, like upright boxwood (ex. Buxus sempervirens 'Fastigiata')

why not a dwarf alberta spruce? not nearly as esoteric as some of the other suggestions, but you can get them for $9 at Walmart and deer won't touch them. in my experience deer will eat any Yew like candy. literally. they put their mouth around the branches like they're sucking down a popsicle and pull the foliage right off in one fell suck.

Not a diva, but very narrow--Juniperus virginianus 'Taylor'. And it handles lots of snow with no problems.

keep in mind the requirements requested....

Juniper's will look strange once they are topped at a certain height and will never regain their former look.

A dwarf alberta spruce is not columnar and will not take to pruning.

'Pendula Bruns' will continue to grow and it has a tendency to grow sideways as it goes up and I've seen one 40' tall. It too will not take to pruning.

Cephalotaxus suggestions are very good... as is a boxwood.

Dax

Cupressus macrocarpa 'Wilma'.

I just bought one yesterday as I couldn't walk past it's lime green colour.

Even though I was trying to.

I've been googling it today, just after I planted it. It grows slowly to 8' I think it said, or 10'. Might have been 6'. It will only grow 2' wide. I've planted it in the wrong spot (grrr) because I've since thought of a much better spot.

Don't tell anyone but it's winter here. And I think Spring is a much better time to be planting conifers. Autumn would be good too.

But remember, sometimes when we are fiddling about, leaving potted plants to wait until the right season, the perfect day, the absolute right moment (damn, it rained) (drat, it's too hot) (confound it, I have a broken leg) we end up forgetting about it until we notice that it's dead. So best to be a little gentle with the rules now and then and do as you see fit.

Ooops, sorry, I combined two threads in my head and thought you'd asked about right time to plant a conifer.