Buy more of same and put them closer together.

Rootbound container grown nursery stock is pandemic so that this is very likely the basis for the problem you have been seeing with a few of your cypresses. All an end consumer can do is inspect roots of plant purchases and make corrections at time of planting.

Otherwise if lots and lots of garden center clientele started griping about it, even refusing to make individual purchases because of obvious problems with the roots of material presented to them maybe this would eventually start rippling back to the production facilities.

In the meantime independent plant retailers in my area are having inventory fly out the door during the continuing pandemic conditions. With property owners hanging around their home sites and fixing them up. So the fact that much of the woody material being used for this is defective junk (rootbound) is not going to be at the forefront of concern for a nursery industry that is currently caught up in trying to service a consumer feeding frenzy.

you seem to have challenging sun exposure & root spread capability

@plantkiller_il_5 Can you be more specific?

@Embothrium If the plants are root bound in the container, can that be fixed while they being planted in the ground by manually adjusting the roots or do you have to find plants that are not root bound?

People want the biggest plants and won’t want to pay a 15 gallon price for a 5 gallon sized plant in a larger container with more space for roots. So, they are more likely to end up with large plants that are root bound in the container.

These are dwarf Italian Cypress that are supposed to reach a maximum height under 20 feet at full maturity.

What other variety can work in the pictured area? I remember there being a very similar looking plant called something “totem.” I’m not sure what the difference is.

I’m also considering Thujas since they are a bit fatter and maybe I would need less of them to cover the area. The concern I have with thujas is that maybe they would eventually get too fat and start impinging on the fence and/or sticking out into the patio taking away walking space.

I can't tell from one pic. but will any plant get full sun in this spot ?

most conifers require full sun

And the available space for root zone...no wonder they wobble

what kind of soil is there ?

They say to dig hole 3 times the size of the pot ...that is to break up the soil so roots can grow out into it

I say you are lucky any survived

ron

my name isn't plantkiller for nutten

They will get full sun in the afternoon and once they grow higher than the fence line, that portion will have full sun most of the day.

I’m thinking of replacing these with either Juniper Skyrocket or Juniper Spartan.

Apparently, these both are faster growers the existing dwarf Italian Cypress.

I would plant Skyrocket 2 feet apart and Spartan could be 3 feet apart.

I could save some money on Spartan because I would need fewer plants to cover the same length of fence line. However, I would at least once a year pruning to keep it from sticking out too far into the patio area since it can get up to 5 feet wide which is a little too much. The nursery says it trims down very nicely without looking woody, unlike some other choices.

Skyrocket looks more interesting in appearance and color. It may also need some trimming, but likely much less.

Opinions on which would fit best in the pictured area?