Techny is a nice plant if you have the room. They can get quite broad. It would be worth a trip to Woodstock to see Rich's Foxwillow Pines just to see the myriad of conifers out there. It might help to mix the plants up a bit in case something comes along that kills arbs your whole hedge wouldn't be wiped out.

tj

My favorite nursery is down by you - The Growing Place in Naperville on Plank Rd., and 2nd location in Aurora.

Possibility Place in Monee is a great native tree farm, and the owners are wonderfully helpful; but I don't know what Arbs they grow.

Platt Hill in Bloomingdale is also good.

I'm 99% sure the Atrium Garden Center in Lake Zurich had them last year, but that's kinda far for you.

It's still kinda early in the season for the box stores to have 'everything'. Wait another month...
Our local Lowes & HD only have Emerald Greens so far this year. Menards in the past had only had 'Nigra' & 'Emerald Green'.
I know I saw 'Techny' Arbs at Home Depot last year & previous years - maybe 5' high $60. (I was on the hunt for Dark Green 'Nigra' Arbs or 'Brabant'.) That doesn't mean they'll have them this year.
But not all HD & Lowes stores have all the same trees all the time; or my local HD might have 2 of a particular plant (I 'need' 3), Schaumburg has zero, and Lake Zurich has 20 - so check other stores on the other side of town too.
If you call a big box to ask if they have a particular plant, most likely they'll give you the wrong answer. You have to go to the store & look.
And their selection changes thru the growing season, so if you can be patient they could show up at a bargain later in the summer.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Growing Place

I also like the Growing Place!

We're further east, though, so we got our Techny Arborvitaes from Hinsdale Nurseries. Looks like the 5' might be on sale right now. (See pg. 17 of their retail guide.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Hinsdale Nursuries Retail Guide

I have gotten them through a nursery in Northbrook, which is a haul for you, and also at Home Depot. You have to get them when they first come in before they are neglected, though! Ours have done fine. Perhaps call your local HD or Lowes and talk to the person who does the ordering.

Do fertilizer for the roots for the first year to get them established, then use dried blood once a month the next year (during the growing season, but stop in Sept). to help boost the growth.

Thanks a lot for all the replies and advice. I went to the Naperville Growing Place. They have nice plants but expensive, and rather big for me to handle.

I found a farm in Iowa selling smaller and cheaper plants,

http://www.windbreaktrees.com/techny.html

I am thinking of ordering few bare root plants and see how they would survive. going for really cheap :) so even if that fails not much a loss.

I have seen photos of techny hedges where they have been trimmed to form about 3 feet wide wall like hedges, so looks like spread can be controlled.