Leyland vs Green Giant, age-old debate

[hotkarl]

I planted mine a year ago this month. They did nothing until recently. I'm just now seeing some noticeable growth. Healthy as can be though. I can't wait til my neighbors are deleted.

[kinkytoes]

If you plan to live in the house for a long time, you may regret planting Leylands. They get BIG, which is OK, but they die after 20 or 30 years. So, you may end up paying someone to get rid of a big dead tree. The roots are also shallow, which means they can fall over easily.

So of your house is 40 -50 feet away from where you planted the tree..they could fall on the house after they die...or whenever they're knocked over by a storm. It's more work and money, but I would go for a mixed evergreen privacy screen.

You can have large sized trees planted...so you don't have to wait for them to grow. You may pay about 75-175 per tree to have a 10 foot evergreen planted. I would recommend:
1. Loblolly or white pines for fast-growing, longer lived big trees
2. Interplanted with larger sized evergreen shrubs for sun/shade depending on your exposure such as:
Rhododendron, sky pencil juniper or other juniperus virginiana such as emerald sentinel etc, ilex opaca or another holly, hardy camellia or mountain laurel.

If you call a nursery or a tree farm that's local you can ask them about planting bigger trees/shrubs. If the shrub's already 4-10 feet, you won't have to wait as long for it to grow in. Unlike home depot or a lot of online stores, a local nursery or farm can often order taller trees/shrubs. Since those are harder to plant as the rootball may be larger, they'll also provide planting services.

[movin2Reston]

How did these turn out for you?

Just planted 26 of the Green Giant Arborvitaes about a month ago.

Originally Posted by ZakAttack

Well, we went with buying BOTH leylands and green giant arborvitaes, all in the 3 gallon/3 foot size range. So the race is on to see which ones grow the prettiest and fastest.