Carolina Gardening: Green Giant vs Italian Cypress, 1 by doyledh

doyledh wrote:
We're looking for a decorative columnar arborvitae or cypress to accent the front of our house. We are trying to create an Italian look and would love to have tall, full Italian cypresses off each corner of the house. But when I look at 8 ft Italian cypress they look so scrawny and thin in the nursery, I wonder how many years it would take to have them anywhere close to what I'm dreaming of. Also, here in Columbia I've seen some Italian cypresses that have grown very tall but look scraggly, maybe from disease, maybe from poor feeding and watering.
I've seen very tall and slightly wider Green Giants that seem to grow more robustly in this humid climate and am considering getting two of them, also about 8 ft, and doing a little trimming to keep them from growing too wide at the bottom. I want columnar, not pyramidal. This picture of the thuja green giant seems to be the shape and look we want.

What advice can any of you Carolina gardeners offer?
--Don