Help! Planting New Hedge - Species Suggestions Needed

Help Fellow Gardeners!
I am hoping to plant a new privacy hedge this fall in Vancouver on an east facing lot. I have no idea what type of trees I should plant - ideally looking for something that will grow tightly together and quickly for privacy. Suggestions on the type of Cedar? Any nursery recommendations? My other concern is the talk of this coming winter. If it is going to be harsh with lots of snow, should I wait until the Fall of 2011? Or will the trees survive?
Many thanks in advance for your suggestions.

 

The easiest hedge to grow that will fill in quickly and grow fast is the red cedar excelsior. You should be able to find balled and burlapped trees 3-4 feet tall well under $20.00. Now is the time to plant when the weather is wet. They needs lots of water in the spring and summer and be sure to prune often so they grow tight.

 

You are likely talking about 'Excelsa'. This is not a dwarf selection, is probably too large- and open-growing for intended purpose. Highly popular Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd' could fit the bill.

 

I am curious to get some reaction from Ron and others regarding Choisya ternata or "Mexican Orange Blossom" as a hedge, although never a trimmed hedge. I have noticed that Victoria specimens are now re-blooming, some of them, and looking and smelling lovely, the clusters of small dainty white blooms resembling orange blossoms, and the pointed foliage in rounded clusters of nicely-sized and shaped leaves, firm and glossy, is wonderful.. And evergreen. I was sure they'd be deer fodder so didn't try one in my garden, but I have noticed that the Victoria overpopulation of very hungry deer don't seem to be bothering them. Some large older shrubs in a hedge formation, not a trimmed hedge, although some pruning may have been done, the row is so nicely fountaining but also rather even, on our strata property, bloomed like mad in May-June-July, must have bloomed itself out as this particular grouping has not yet re-bloomed. But some others are. A garden centre told me that the re-blooming ones probably didn't get adequate moisture in the spring-summer and were stressed, but now happy...

Cpdickson probably needn't worry about that heavy a snowfall in Vancouver, but it is true there has been predicted a more severe winter...

 

I've seen Mexican orange burnt by cold in Seattle. If the "vicious" winter being predicted comes to pass this time...

 

Experience counts, thanks. Well, since a hedge implies a significant outlay in plants, I guess it would be wise, to stay with a hardy species like the cedar... our landscaper for our "strata" or condominium townhouses has chosen 'Smargd' or 'Smaragd', Danish for "emerald"... Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd' (White cedar 'Smaragd') --seems perfect. They can be purchased in multiples economically, too.

 

Thanks everyone for your ideas. You have provided a few good suggestions. The Red Cedar has been recommended to be before....I don't mind if it gets too big. I but I am assuming it will need regular pruning? I am hoping for a hedge around 8 feet or so....

 

8' is absolutely nothing for non-dwarf forms of Thuja plicata. But these are faster than the 'Smaragd'. Longer wait, with less (maybe very little) pruning or quicker effect, rather soon followed by significant annual shearing chore?

'Smaragd' is liable, in time to grow much taller than 8' as well. Although frequently experienced the desire for an instant yet never tall hedge is pretty hard to fulfill. Good, compact hedges that do not quickly get away from you are in large part a result of slow growth. What many should really do for best results is put up a fence, then plant in front of it at their leisure.

 

http://mark-cullen.blogspot.com/2010/09/cedar-hedges-investment-that-grows.html

is one of the websites discussing hedges. Might be helpful.

 

Thank you Janet! Great website.

 

We bought 7 of the Thuja O. Smaragd from Costco in April this year; they were approx 8 ft tall, and cost $20 each. We had to get a hedge in stat to screen a little greenhouse, an unexpected gift from friends, in order to comply with developer/scheme rules, so no time to waste. Planted them pretty much as per Marc Cullen's blogspot, and wrapped a soaker hose around the rootballs - one length went round 3 times. We watered them every week, for about 2 hrs each time and they have done amazingly well, showing signs of new growth and very healthy. (Everything else in our garden is on drip irrigation but these trees do like lots of water in the warmer months!) If you prefer to get them going now - Fall is a great planting time, try the large nurseries in the Langley area eg Art's, Pacific Rim etc. Good luck!!

 

I thought Mark Cullen's blog was excellent, I want to explore his other sections... he's very practical.

 

Footnote: Was at Home Depot in Nanaimo today and they have the Emerald Cedars for $20, 4 to 5 ft tall and look healthy. Perhaps the Vancouver HD also have some. Happy planting!!

 

As is so often the case with gardening information originating in the popular arena particularly (but not limited to it) Cullen's piece (linked to above) actually contains unfortunate statements or recommendations, most notably the still too common (and therefore expected) amending of planting hole back-fill advice. This one should have died out years ago, it being noticed by researchers way back in the 1960s that trees in test plots receiving amended back-fill actually grew less well than those in the same plots that were planted in the same soil that came out of the hole, without incorporation of amendments.

 

That's kind of like taking vitamin pills and being supposed to be healthier for it. (?) In other words, just live, eat, breathe, plant in the soil, don't add unnecessary stuff to the organism! What about farming, then, which is usually pretty big on fertilizers and "amending" the soil... not that farming is transplanting, but adding seeds to plain unfertilized soil is usually not practised... farmers add fertilizers and soil conditioners... well, I wouldn't know. I just liked his simple advice about planting hedges and how to clip them... simple and straightfoward. Thanks, though, Ron, and as usual your comments make me think and I ponder them over time...

 

Unlike those in small amended planting holes, trenches or strips plants in a manured field have the same soil texture throughout. Only those on the edge of the field will be exposed to interaction between amended and non-amended upper soil layers. The core issue is how water is liable to move into and out of small areas of amended soil, surrounded by large areas of unamended soil. For instance, on heavy soils during moist conditions small amended planting holes etc. may act as sumps, receiving and collecting water from the finer textured soil around them.

 

Very interesting. I have actually noticed that before, in a clay-ey section of my garden... it hit my consciousness, at the time, and I wondered what the outcome would be... I think I did subsequently add some material to further break up the heavier soil around the planting holes later, and do so occasionally still... and even built a temporary small drainage "mini-canal" one day to let out some heavy-rain collected water... but it may explain a few things. Thanks. Hedge-planters should then develop a nice trench to put their new cedars in, not separate holes for each tree... Keep up the flow of good info, Ron!

 

Ron, have read all the info about not amending planting holes with interest, but like many I am an old school gardener and have done so to a lesser or greater extent, depending on where I have gardened, all my adult life. What to do then in the area we live now, where the "soil" is mostly gravel and boulders with no organic matter to speak of, drains away instantly, and the only way to make a planting hole is with a pickaxe and lots of patience, no exageration!! The only things growing here were thistle and oxeye daisies, and salal into the treeline. We dug enormous holes with a back hoe for the trees we planted, using sifted natural material with compost and bark added to backfill. So far so good. For the large beds of shrubs and perennials, we made bermed beds with trucked in good quality topsoil, and apart from the trillions of weeds, all is well - so far. So your input appreciated.