have you ever perked your soil??? its a good place to start understanding how water moves thru your soil ...

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffnt&q=perking+garden+soil&ia=web

once you have this info.. you can plant accordingly .. usually planting on a bit of a mound.. to insure the plant can adapt to the circs ... well it puts its roots where it wants them ...

most anything can put its roots where it needs to.. to survive ... the usual problem is the transplant.. and getting the plant to survive.. well it establishes itself ...

give us a big city name.. and your zone ...

in my MI.. summer heat can be extreme... and it is not an issue for most stuff ... for me.. cold blistering winter winds are the issue ... so you need to also put that in your equation ... how would you define your winters ...

one upside to conifers.. is that they have year around appeal ... consider a day trip to some OK places below

ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffnt&q=OK+arborteums&ia=web

Which Cedar species are you growing? (They are among my favorite of conifers.)

Cedrus atlantica (one that is in my collection), Cedrus atlantica pendula, Cedrus libani should work for you if not already in your collection. I would avoid real water lovers common Bald Cypress and Metasequoia. (There is a Mexican species of Taxodium/Bald Cypress that is evergreen, I believe, that might work out for you.)

thanks for the prompt responses! Ken i live in Oklahoma City. my winters can be pretty cold but mostly windy. pretty harsh north winds at times and hot south winds when summer but I have a large privacy fence that I use to my advantage for wind.

all the soil by the house is amended but I have most of that planted already. Im wanting to expand out to the side yard which had a fair amount of clay but I always amend and berm my nice conifers. I also grow a fair amount in containers. especially until #3 size or so.

Phoenix, I have loads of cedar. i have a prostrate beauty, atlantica pendula, snow sprite x 2, feelin blue x 2. Im wanting to branch out (chuckle) into other varieties just hoping for someone to say, "heck ya I grow loads of picea and abies in oklahoma city on berms and slopes." 😄

I have some things on standard but I'm a sucker for staying true to form for most specimens.

thanks again

Ryan

True firs are going to be among the least suitable. Many species of spruces also. With your best bet seeing what local collectors and collections - including public ones - have doing well.

Also in future skip the amending - you are not planting annual flowers and vegetable plants.