Geographic location?

Ontario Canada I think zone 6

Zone 6 according to Environment Canada. I thought the same criteria was followed between the US and Canada?

short of spending thousands.. US or loonie .. its going to be decades before you hide that thing ...

how much ground you willing to give up ... something like picea pungens .... blue spruce .. inside of ten or 15 years... is going to be taking 10 or 15 feet ... call it 3 to 5 meters ... at ground level .... and it will never stop growing

look into de groots spire version of thuja ... arbs .. [when researching conifers.. always use the latin .... it seems to really matter ...]

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Thuja+occidentalis+%27Degroot%27s+Spire&t=ffcm&iax=images&ia=images

but the key here.. might be some screening around the patio or deck ... for fast and immediate sight blocking when you are actually using the yard ... rather than trying to do it way back there at the property line.. where.. in tree time.. it will take a decade ...

glad to finally be done with the pool ? ... lol ...

ken

Picea abies Cupressina is a common choice for extremely vigorous vertical growth yet maintains a narrow habit. Extremely adaptable.

Arbirvirae. What you asked for nearly defines how it grows (depending on variety). I may also check out cryptomeria.

There are any number of cultivars of spruce or pine that would do the job.

I'll place dollars to donuts that once you check into arborvitae, You'll be hooked.

Is like emerald cedar then?

That (Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd') is probably the most popular selection of the species (there are many). But it is more sensitive to drainage than usual for T. occidentalis. So your spot needs to not be subject to puddling for it to be reliable.

How tall do they generally get? From what I've read it's all over the map. Also read they only live for 30 years which seems poor.

There are hundreds of cultivars. Some are round dwarves. Some are globose cones. Some are tall and skinny. How tall? Which one? Holmstrup has a different answer than Emerald and hetz wintergreen or techny is different yet...and there's a hundred or so more.

How tall do you want to get? Start there.

Arbs can live a long time. I have no idea where the 30 year thing came from but there are arborvitae hedges here that are well over 50 years old. If you want tall, look at Fastigiata or Pyramidalis (same plant - different names), which tend to grow faster and taller than Smaragd.

Unless you just have to have a wide open space in your yard, consider planting a tree or trees closer to your house in a more natural formation, instead of the dorky old "wall o' trees". The nearer the tree, the faster it will block the sight of that building. Persons standing on the other side of the tree will have their view blocked by the fence. You could go with wider trees like full size spruces or pines.

The good news is, it doesn't look like that wide of an area to cover. How wide is that, maybe 25ft? Is the fence 6ft tall? Also, looks like there is a deciduous tree in front of the building, right in the center that probably helps block the view during most of the year. If it was me, I would look high and low for a fast growing, but narrow variety of Thuja. Thuja occidentalis 'Hetz Wintergreen' would be perfect, but I would take anything that I could find. Normally I advocate buying smaller stock, but in this case, Id buy the biggest trees I could afford, at least 6ft. You probably only need 5 or 6 anyways.

I personally wouldn't be opposed to 'Green Giants' either. I know someone will inevitably post the US National Arb showing the 60ft tall GG, but... if your serious about blocking that view and willing to commit to an annual pruning program, it can be done. The best part about GG's in addition to their growth rate, is they are widely available, and extremely cost effective. 'Hetz Wintergreen' is more appropriate, but good luck finding them in large sizes. 'Smaragd' will block that view in about 2 decades and get destroyed by snow load. (multi-leader)

If it doesn't have to be evergreen, American hornbeam hedges are impressive also, fast growing, and can be maintained narrow to preserve your yard space.

It's about 30 ft, fence is 6 ft. There are deciduous trees closer to the house that blocks it out when they are leafed out, also there is that tree on the other property so that's why we'd like some conifers.

If you want evergreen screening of any height, and don't live in warm enough climes, for all practical purposes, conifers are the option.

I'm not going to get too caught up with cultivar names. There's techny, dark green, hetz wintergreen, Brandon, Rushmore, pyramidalis...perhaps a dozen more. All a little different than others, some more So, some less so.

I will specifically mention green giant. If it'll grow for You, you may have to come up with reasons not to select it. Tall, skinny, evergreen, fast growing. It may be worth a trip to a local garden center to ask some questions.

Tell us your goals for width and we can narrow it down pretty quick for you.

They all have their nuances. Green Giant maintains a nice leader but bronzes in the winter (some like that others don't) They also get fairly wide. Hetz Evergreen is reportedly more shade tolerant and therefore more tolerant to crowding. In addition it stay a nice green in the winter. However it could take a couple decades to screen that building though.

As tortuosa mentioned a wall of the same plant can be boring so I'd be inclined to go narrow so you have room to layer varying forms, colors and textures in front of the screening.

Would like narrow with a garden in front ideally, that's why the good ole emerald cedar intrigues me, but I know they grow slowly don't really that large and have trouble with snow. Everything else may overwhelm the yard

I don't know if there is much intriguing about Thuja Emerald Green.

Did you dismiss narrow forms of spruce?

Here are my former Picea abies Cupressina. I'm just over 6' with more than an 8' reach. I couldn't touch the leader on these plants. They where planted as 2' tall 2 gallon plants. This is them 5 years later. Couldn't have been more than 24" wide.

It will take about 30 years to develop a 6-10" wide crown at its widest point for majority specimens. I'm going to file that one under good for restricted horizontal spaces!

I didn't make such claims Ronny.

anyone could argue the same point for any suggestion made on here just like the Emerad Green. But I will say with all the info online, the fields I've visited, the arbs I visited and my own plantings it's likely a good estimate for Toronto.

i don't know you'll have to ask Tim what he considers a restricted space. But don't be silly about the shearing. I know you had to have come across an old farmstead picea abies screening at some point.

In addition he will also have to prioritize how quickly he wants to screen that building.

Just throwing ideas out there!

speaking of which you could consider trees with Marcescence leaves as well.

Update:

I measured the specimens at Longnecker gardens and contacted the current curator to confirm size at planting.

The three specimens range from 17-20' wide. Planted early 1982 as a 3 year old plant. Puts them just shy of 40 years old. They get an annual organic mulch application the spread of its crown. The sandy loam ph is about 6.3 in this drumlin section of the gardens.

Probably an example leaning towards your point of a broad column so it looks like this plant is certainly capable of achieving 15 wide in 30 years.

Still fairly narrow considering the premium growing conditions of a 40 year old grafted conifer.

I'm interested in this as well. Sorry for missing it but what plant are you referring to?

Looks like a post was deleted!

Ron was just making a point that Picea abies Cupressina may not be the best choice for this restricted location. I made a broad claim for majority specimens and their width potential that wasn't correct but yet was correct. So many dynamics involved to make blanket statements.