Beginner Gardening: Low maintenance evergreens, 1 by davidsl88

davidsl88 wrote:
Yardener - I'm with you. I planted 15 6' Emeralds along my back fence for privacy in 2004. All but 3 grew quickly (to date range from 16' - 18') and totally wiped out the view from my neighbor's yard and deck (the GOAL). The other 3 were stunted by the shade of my Norway maple, but when I took the maple down in 2010 they shot up, practically making up those 6 years of lost growth in the last 2...

These are compact neatly shaped trees, don't intrude on my neighbor's property and don't shed to the point I feel like I need to get a rake. They required some care the 1st season but after that, I've not had to trim them or water them. I especially enjoy the deep year-round green, especially here where the winter seems to last forever.

This pic was taken last year. The (much) shorter tree on the far right is one of the 3 that were affected by too much shade, but is nearly 2' taller than it was the year prior. They need at 6 - 8 hours full sun. If you have the sun, I think this is easiest living privacy 'fence'.