Nice rockwork in your driveway, John! It deserves to have some interesting conifers planted in this spot.

Here is a link that might be useful: Here are some examples of interesting conifers.

I'm of the opinion that you give that Leyland to a neighbor three doors down and plant something more appropriate in it's place. Two doors down is too close. ;-)
Mike

lol ... hilarious dave ...

now.. werent these a lot easier to work with.. than your 6 and 8 foot specimens ...????

get rid of the leyland.. in this spot... and move the two inside ones.. to fill the gap ...

plant the leyland somewhere else.. and learn how to prune on it ... and eventually kill it.. before you have to pay someone to do so ...

my fear.. is that it doenst work out.. long term.. like the arbs ... and you have to remove it.. and then all of a sudden... the other 4.. arent spaced properly ...

in the space given.. you simply dont need 5 plants ... just patience .... 2 feet spacing is a bit close ...

and insure they are all single leader plants.. if not.. in spring.. reduce to one ... i dont like removing half the canopy. directly at transplanting ... the leaves/needles are food making machines.. to grow the roots.. to get the plant 'established' ... if you remove a lot of them at planting ..... whats going to grow the roots???

ken

Maple Grove...I'm glad you like the rock wall, and I agree that arbs and leyland are bland...but as you can see its a tight spot and I needed trees that can stay tight.

Ken I see your point about spacing, but I'm willing to let them dig into each other a little. I will take your suggestion of getting rid of the leyland.

What if I move the leyland and replace it with an eastern red cedar? They're native to my area of jersey and I love the look.

Maybe a mini cultivar of eastern red cedar? As if so often the case, sorry, you're going about this the wrong way. It's a small spot, you need something small or you're going to drive yourself crazy dealing with it in a few years. I can't tell you how many times leylandiis get planted in such a space and have to be later (re)moved. Or if not, with how much you will have to cut it back, you'll just have a bunch of leylandii trunks there in 5-10 years. At the very last, get something like 'De Groots Spire', which will do well in NJ.

Ok so I am going to replace that Leyland with a Degroots Spire and keep the spacing as it is at 2 ft. Thanks for the help...I swear i won't plant any more arbor vitaes after this.

I actually like the idea of replacing it with an Eastern Red Cedar. They are slower growing then Leyland, can be trimmed, and are one of the kinds of trees you can grow as a wall of greenery.

Keep that spacing and plant Sequoidendron giganteum Pendula. Watching them twist and intertwine as they got older would look cool.

Mark

texjagman - Unfortunately I already put the Degroots Spire in place of the leyland. But I looked up some pictures of the sequoidendron giganteum pendula and woah....I've never seen anything like that. What a weird, beautiful tree.

What kind of shade tolerance do they have? I basically live in a forest...the spot with these arbs is the only full sun area on my property.

Ok, here is the final product with picture below. In order from left to right: emerald green, nigra, degroots spire, emerald green, nigra.

Will the different heights and growing habits be good, bad or neutral of the long term? How much can they dig into each other, or dominate one another?

very nice ...

you didnt answer ... werent these easier to work with that huge transplants ..??? .. and they will outgrow.. 3x transplants.. in 5 years

ed said: I actually like the idea of replacing it with an Eastern Red Cedar.

==>>NEVER.... EVER.. plant this invasive seed tree ... its carp ... and it easily grows 2 feet per year ...

its covering every unmowed highway in MI ... what a nightmare..

and to make the scenario even worse.. its native down south ... lol ... big business ... ...think fence posts .. cedar bark mulch.. etc ...

its not really a tree for suburbia ...

sorry ed ... we disagree on this one ... and i wont hold it against you.. that i am right .. lol ...

BTW.. its also a host for cedar rust ... infects other trees.. of which i cant recall.. cause i am still laughing from dissing ed ... lol ...

ken

Ken - Yes you were right. They were cheaper, easier to work with and will establish with less stress and grow faster. BUT - this is the only spot on my whole property (1/3rd of an acre) that actually gets mostly consistent "full" sun. The other areas where I put the 8 footers really needed the height in order to ensure that the sun would hit them in the first place.

Three things I have learned from spending time on here:

1. Enough with the god damn arborvitaes and leylands.

2. Plant as small and young as possible.

3. Plan ahead and provide space for future growth.

THANK YOU.

So about those Eastern Red Cedars...they are native to my area, I see them hiking around the area all the time. What's wrong with putting them in a different spot on my property? Is cedar rust that prevalent? Are they that ugly?

I am tired of planting non-native conifers. It's a disservice to nature. I want to support the local ecosystem. Any thoughts here are appreciated.

I am just realizing that I put 5 arborvitaes 3 feet from the road....

What will happen in the winter when they get hit with salty snow and slush by cars and the plow guy?

How salt tolerant are arborvitae?

Cedar,apple , rust infects apple trees and hawthorn trees.
eastern redcedar or juniper are weeds,,they are all over my neighborhood.
good luck with the salt,,,maybe you could put up short burlap screen for winter
ron

Rather than a screen, I would individually wrap them in burlap. That should protect them from the salt and it's a good habit anyways, because the Emerald Green's are going to splay apart under snow load anyways, I have to wrap mine in twine every year.

My bigger concern is how hard the snow, ice, will hit them when the plow goes by. I suspect that's going to be a problem, they might get wiped out just be the sheer force of the spray being that close to the road. Hopefully they will be buried in enough snow at that point that it anchors them to the ground.