Hi,

The first question would be if you are aware of any deer that visit your yard. If they do, you'll either want to plant something that they most likely won't browse (best option) or be prepared to add protection or deterrents. In particular, the Emerald Green Arborvitae can be heavily browsed by deer. They will often eat the needles bare to the trunk, even on mature trees, up to the height they can reach. You can explore more information on how to manage deer in your landscape on our website. There is a link to a list of Deer Resistant Native Plants and there is also a link to some YouTube videos on fence options. Typically they are for vegetable gardening, but something similar could be used to protect Emerald Greens if that is the tree of choice and deer are an issue.

If deer are not a problem then the Emerald Green Arborvitae is an option to help provide some screening. It does stay fairly compact in the width at the base. Eastern White Pine, loblolly pine, or the Green Giant Arborvitae, among other evergreen trees, would be options in the back corner for a tree that would get height and have screening potential, however they will all have some width at the base until it is tall enough to prune the lower limbs up, maybe to fence height. With those wider evergreens, you could consider planting some lower shrubs close by to help achieve the screen at eye level. It is easier to plant any shrubs at the same time as the tree, since when the tree grows, its roots will expand out as well. Planting trees and any shrubs near each other at the same time will allow them to grow together and you won't have to try to fit a shrub around large roots later on.

If deer are an issue, you may want to consider something like a Dragon Lady Holly or a compact and upright Juniper tree, such as 'Sky Rocket' or 'Moonglow' varieties. These have a sharper texture and the deer tend to leave them alone.

Whatever tree varieties you decide to plant, what is more important is not planting all of the same type of tree for a few different reasons. Planning to add a variety of tees or plants have the benefits of:

• Adding variety for texture, color, flowers, and multi-season aesthetics
• Giving the planting as a whole better resilience, since a single type of plant could be more susceptible to disease, pests and unusual weather. If something happens to 1 variety of plant it may not spread to different varieties.
• Adding some depth and layers to achieve the screening of your yard in multiple seasons and at a faster rate.

You can find more details and ideas on Mixed Privacy Screens on our website. It explains the importance of varying the plant material, which was also explained briefly above, and also gives you plant lists for different types and sizes of trees and shrubs.

To achieve a screen that gives you a sense of privacy more quickly and with out too much width, consider varying heights with maybe a deciduous tree, some compact upright evergreens (such as the Emerald green arborvitae, Dragon Lady Holly or one of the Juniper varieties, or other possibilities at various garden centers) and also some tall native ornamental grasses which are listed on the Mixed Privacy Screen website. Staggering the plants as opposed to keeping them in a straight line will achieve the privacy screen in an aesthetically pleasing way. This will take up more of a garden bed footprint into the yard space which you were concerned about, however it might be an acceptable trade-off that will get you a more reliable screen overall.

Grasses can always be removed or thinned later on as the evergreens and deciduous trees grow and fill in the spaces between where they are planted, but since they grow more quickly than trees, you can have a sense of privacy with in 1-2 growing seasons as opposed to years of growth with trees. You could do a cluster of 3 upright evergreens with different plants in-between them, going down your fence line, to break up a straight row and add plant variety. Odd numbers of plant groupings (3's or 5's) tend to be the rule of thumb for visual clarity.

Lastly when you decide on your plants, and where to have them planted, make sure to leave the appropriate spacing between them and off of the fence/property line. Typically Emerald green Arborvitae are planted at 5 feet apart on-center (from the middle of each tree) to have them eventually grow together to create a screen. Looking at your photos, probably somewhere around 5-7 feet off of the fence line would be good since as your trees grow in width they would end up growing to the fence. You can have something like a deciduous tree, or the white pine planted closer to your property line and those will eventually have overhanging branches to the neighbors yard, however the neighbors will be able to prune whatever hangs on their property. Something to consider when you are determining plant placement.

If there are more questions with different plant variety options or placement, please feel free to continue asking in this question thread.

-Emily

Hi Wes,

That is good that you don't have to battle with deer eating any plants as that can limit certain plant variety options.

If shade is more than 6 hours in those locations where you are thinking of installing the Emerald Green, you may want to lean towards a holly variety instead since they can handle more shade. There are many holly varieties available in various nurseries that could suit your space requirements and perform better in the shade. The 'Dragon Lady' is one variety that we mentioned that gets to be a similar height and width as the Emerald green. Hollies can tolerate trimming well, so you can tweak the height and width of a variety slightly larger if you prefer, though I wouldn't reduce a plant's height by too much long-term. To achieve a privacy screen in shadier areas, it is best to try to stagger or layer plantings, like was mentioned in the original response. The trees in the picture are large canopies, so hiring an arborist to perform a crown thinning is an option, or you could limb up some of the lower branches, but choosing more shade tolerant plant varieties have a more sustainable outcome.

Green Giants have been planted as close to about 6-8 feet on center but allowing more like 10 feet apart for maturing trees is probably more ideal and always better to allow a bit more air circulation between plants to help eliminate any unwanted pests or diseases or cause additional plant stress.

Eastern White Pine can get very large so it is recommended that they be spaced more like 20 - 30 feet apart.

Anytime in spring would be a good time to plant before the weather gets too hot. Usually mid to late March and there after is fine. Generally avoiding the heat of the summer is best for new plants, but it can still be done with monitoring ample water. Basically, don't have the trees installed in July and then leave for vacation for 2 weeks without having a way to keep them watered. Most likely your new trees will not fair well. Even with a Spring planting it is a good idea to monitor supplemental water during the first 1-3 years. Fall is good too, before November when drying winter winds can cause winterburn on evergreen trees that haven't had time to establish their roots before potential ground freeze. Our website on planting trees and shrubs talks about techniques for planting and the site for watering trees explains monitoring water and how much should be added.

For more concise directions to watering, monitor the plants regularly but water only when needed. To determine when it is 'needed', you should feel the soil around 6 inches deep and water well only when it's becoming somewhat dry to the touch at that depth (the soil shouldn't be left to get bone dry, but also shouldn't be remaining consistently soggy). Generally speaking, establishing plants might need a good soaking about once a week in hot weather.

When planting a row or many trees, something like a drip irrigation hose can be helpful for watering many plants at once and delivering water directly to the soil and root zone to help reduce water from evaporating or excessive water from collecting on the leaves or needles, which could cause disease issues. Just be sure to let the water run long enough to deliver water deep enough into the soil to the entire root area.

Should you have further questions, please continue to contact us.

Emily