i have no clue about this plant.. in your area ...

first... will they warranty it or a year???

but my wisdom is usually along the lines of.. how much will it cost you ... a few foo foo coffees.. or one great meal ... if so .. skip either.. and just get it ...

crikey .. if it makes your toes curl buy it plant it.. and enjoy it as long as it lasts ... i bought at least a hundred conifers under this justification .. and most have died along the way ... but i enjoyed them for the time i spent with them ...

lifes too short to end up buying something ho hum ... just because ...

ken

Thanks garden gal. Now I'm off to find out how fast it grows... Lol.

Mans thanks Ken. Always appreciate the humor in your posts.

To make it even worse, the USDA zones were established for crops and didn't consider ornamentals at all! In Sacramento your issue is going to be making sure that it gets enough water while it's establishing a root system. Also, I find that in our dry summers (where ambient humidity can be 10% or so), that afternoon shade helps almost anything. It's not that it needs the shade per se, it just helps it not dry out.

The few Northwest native conifers present in the arboretum at the California capital look heavily influenced by the climate conditions, even on the well watered (if they are still doing that) lawns there. So I don't know that a T. plicata cultivar can be expected to thrive in Sacramento - especially a yellow foliage cultivar.

Thanks. Off to check out some other selections that will stay tall and narrow. One with a 4 foot spread or less. Well maybe 5. Prefer yellow but open on that I guess.

You might look at Thuja occidentalis 'Jantar' - they do fine here (Sonoma County) in 9b. You are a lot hotter than I am but they don't burn here in full sun and low-moderate water.

Sacramento area sites may perhaps also tend to have the wrong irrigation water or soils for coastal plants like this.

Thuja plicata is not Zone 3 anyway, is it? Nurseries don't even like to sell Plicata much in Ohio because of winter damage, they have the less attractive 'Green Giant' hybrid instead.

Wouldn't you need a cool winter to get a dormant winter color like you want?

How about the Oriental Arborvitae? They are supposed to grow in hot climates fine (well, I read that) and have quite a few weird/interesting yellow varieties.

There are some great Platycladus (oriental arborvitae) - 'Franky Boy' is lime-colored and sort of crazy looking, 'Morgan' turns rusty brown in winter. The T. 'Jantar' colors reliably in winter here and is chartreuse in summer. Sacramento is colder than I am in winter.

Right to plicata not being suitable down to Z3. Z5 with fingers crossed is more like it. And yes also to Platycladus quite likely being a better choice for this job.

Thanks, none of those varieties are tall enough.

Might have to cave and do dwarf italian cypress. Wish I could find something more yellow.

How tall do you need? Thuja occidentalis 'Jantar' might do the trick.

20 ideally, 15 would do.

Supposedly 'Jantar' is about 10-15' in 10 years. Mine are about 8' but I don't know how old they are. They are in the ground about 3-4 years and I got them as #15s.