Brent Harsh wrote:

C G wrote:

Do yourselves a favor. Cut them down and spend the money you would have
used for the tree doctor to plant something with a longer life
expectancy.

We planted a few cedars a year ago last fall that haven't been growing fast
at all (i know, I know ... patience - but I swear, they've only gained
about 10 inches and even that is *very* spindly). I was considering
putting a row of Leylands in front of them this year, alternating spacing
to make kind of a "mixed" wide row of trees and provide better blocking
thinking they would grow faster.

I love cedars, but as you have discovered, they grow slowly. I did what
you are considering a number of years ago, with just Leylands. I
planted two rows. The trees were 10 feet apart in each row, and the
rows were 5 feet apart. After a few years, I had a big green fence.
Well, that was great until Fran came along and took out about 60% of my
fence.


If Leylands are not good (I've seen the bent ones recently) - any
recommendations on what might be a good alternative for a fast-growing
privacy screening type of evergreen?

Good question, wish I remembered the answer. Actually, it's better that
one not answer, and let you select things based on your preferences.
You've got to consider soil, light, water levels, and personal
preferences. I recommend a trip to the library to borrow a book titled
"Landscape Plants of the Southeast" by Gordon Halfacre, or if you've got
$60 to spare, you could buy yourself a copy. This book provides an
excellent source for you to find shrubs/trees which will meet your
needs. I remember that I ended up using a total of about 6 different
plants of varying heights and textures. A bonus what that some of them
gave us flowers, some gave fall color (I know, not such a good screen in
the winter), and some were wonderfully fragrant. In all, it was much
better than the big green fence.

Chuck