Top 2 Privacy Screen Trees. Grow A Living Fence. Green Giant vs. Emerald Green Arborvitae Comparison

[@HookedandRooted]

Hi Gardening Friends! For more information regarding the Green Giant & Emerald Green Arborvitae, please check out my website: hookedandrooted.com/privacy-using-arborvitae-1 Thanks for watching! -Steph 🌱 My Amazon Store Where You Can Find Many of My Favorite Garden Items 👉 amzn.to/49F9RTU

[@cherylt6888]

Thank you for showing the difference in full growth in yards🙌🏻👍🏻😊

[@janetorello5716]

I just love your videos. You are so thorough. I hope your channel grows as nicely as your garden.

[@HookedandRooted]

Hi Janet, Thank you so much for your kinds words 💚

[@inthegardenwithgwen]

Wow your parents hedge is amazing! I personally love the Green Giants and I have a ton of them along my drive. And an added bonus is that at Christmas time you can cut away to your hearts content and have lovely greens to decorate with. 🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

[@HookedandRooted]

Hi Gwen! I agree, they are amazing trees, and their hedge/green walls are gorgeous. Love them. One of the best parts of having evergreens besides the year round interest in the garden, is cutting on them for holiday and winter arranging 🌲Thank you so much for watching 🌱

[@Cmash5195]

Great tutorial! Love how you always include real life examples.

[@danaweiss6359]

Very informative and concise comparison - thank you!!

[@HookedandRooted]

My pleasure! Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks Dana!

[@capecodcottagegarden]

Good comparison. It was great to see the difference. I planted 20 Emerald Green 2 years ago and they are doing great. We have a rather small back garden and I wanted a big space for my perennial border so we chose the Emerald green to save space. So far no deer damage but my dog probably scares them off:). Thanks for the great video Steph:)

[@HookedandRooted]

Hi Carol! I love the look of both of these arborvitae, and especially the idea of the emerald green as a backdrop to other plantings so that they don't take up too much room. I'm certain yours are lovely. I bet the dog helps with the deer which is great. Thank you so much, and thanks for watching 💚

[@willaerley7140]

I would add that you should try to buy arborvitae with a single leader. Multiple leaders tend to splay under heavy snow.

[@hollymerchant9550]

We're having the conversation here! We have a lot of deer and need a very tall privacy fence.. We can never undervalue privacy! Thank you so much for your tutorial!

[@marypalmer2088]

Thank you for this! I am in a new home on a small lot in a neighborhood and want privacy. I love the look of your parents yard with the Emerald Green and that's the look I'm going to go for. Thank you again and thank you to your parents for sharing.❤

[@jasminelouisefarrall]

I love evergreens everywhere small, large, miniature and ground covers 🥰🥰

[@wendyhanberg8733]

Me too. I live in an area where we get lake effect snow from Lake Michigan, so lots of snow. Seeing green all year round even in winter is always pleasant!!

[@HookedandRooted]

I agree Jasmine! Evergreens are also among my very favorites in the garden 🌲

[@reneawiggins1704]

Best video ever! I'm planting evergreens because a house has been built beside me. Idk much about them. TY

[@HookedandRooted]

You are so welcome! Glad it was helpful 🌲

[@jilliebean2574]

Great video Steph. I love how your neighbor used them (off-set) to separate their property from the road. So beautiful! I planted these at my last house, and they worked fantastic for privacy. I haven’t driven past that house in a few years now. My previous neighbors told me that the new owner had ripped a lot of the shrubs , ornamental trees and perennials out. I don’t want to see that!

[@linakhoury6623]

Hi Stef 🌺. Your comparison to these cypress trees is amazing, and I loved how they looked along the fence . Have a great day .🌺🌻🌺

[@HookedandRooted]

Thanks Lina! 🥰

[@GardeningSpirit]

We actually have both of these! Our green giants (8x lining our back yard) are huge now and created the look we wanted.. which was a green view that blocked our neighbors houses & decks that overlook us. The emerald greens (we have 27 or so in total) are also lining the sides of our house since again neighbors are up close & overlooking windows and front doors, lights are a privacy issue. It's not a look for everyone (lots of evergreens) but honestly we love them and have not regretted it at all. We're Zone 7a and near the ocean. PS- I love your outfit in this video!

[@LULC0759]

May I ask when you planted the Green Giants? We have planted 5 about 2 years ago and I don’t see a lot of growth yet. TY

[@DeerDDD]

You answered questions I would not have even thought about! Thanks for a thorough comparison. Cheers!

[@HookedandRooted]

You are so welcome! Thank you so much for watching.

[@anthonyswigspotforever]

I did a small hedge of emerald greens early this spring to create some privacy between my back yard and street and neighbors side yard. I think the rule of thumb most people go by for the emerald greens is 4 trees for every ten feet of space you want to create privacy for and plant them 2-3 feet apart my application is small 8 and a half feet so I did 3 trees planted 2 1/2 feet apart. Hopefully I’m correct on my information I’d hate to dig them up to space them further apart lol 😂. Thanks for this video super helpful ❤

[@jeansandhoodiegardengal2975]

Glad we planted green giants!!!!! ❤️👩‍🌾🌲🌲🌲🌲

[@HookedandRooted]

Enjoy them! Such beautiful trees and great for privacy💚🌲

[@melissadavis3814]

Back in 2009 we were able to purchase 35 Green Giants from a nursery going out of business for $350. They were about 3-4’ tall. Installed them at two duplexes we built in 2007 as privacy from surrounding homes. They are 15 years old (in ground) and probably 30’ tall and 16’ wide. Huge! But beautiful! We did have an issue with bag worms in 2012 which I manually picked off over two days to save them.

[@HookedandRooted]

What a great price Melissa! and so wonderful to have such great privacy now. Great tip about bag worms. Glad you got to it quickly. Thanks for sharing!

[@blessedhummingbird4]

Great video! Your parent's design was my favorite.

[@grisespino5342]

Stef thank you for the info and comparisons! Love what your parents did in their yard. Staggering them is a great idea as well.

[@HookedandRooted]

Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@Darceys_Flowers]

You're content is always so great. Always something different & interesting. Love the real word examples. Noticed your parents home is almost a blank canvas. Maybe you can "hook" them up with plantings. 😂

[@HookedandRooted]

Thank you so much! so glad you enjoyed it Darcey! Their yard was always so full of fruit trees and plantings. As they have aged, they have removed many things in favor of a more low maintenance yard. They do however have an impressive grapevine /home vinyard basically, which I'll be sure to show in September once the vines are filled with grapes. They do have plantings in the front yard, and just last May I planted some little lime hydrangeas for my mom for mothers day. Then a few weeks later a hardy hibiscus 🌺

[@robedmund9948]

Thujas Green Gints work well in wide-open spaces. They get huge! Emerald Greens are better for smaller, more confined spaces. They both make a great wind break when planted with good spacing. I personally like the dark green color of the Emeralds better, but the Giants are good-looking, too. Great job of pointing out how dog urine is NOT a friend to these plants. I planted 9 of them 2 years ago and had two dogs at the time. Had to replace 5 of the 9 due to a double dose of urine (one always followed the other! UGH!) A simple 'fence with plastic landscape material and some stakes saved the replacements. Happy Spring everybody! Plant well and plant often!

[@IbuAsmawati-my1yk]

An amazing place and bring comfort with beautiful view. Thank for your nice video and thanks you for sharing with us.l

[@SnappyR]

The Green Giant is my favorite ~ I like the loose branching habit - they are right on the edge of the heat zone here in my 7B (now 8A) but my Emerald Green's seem to be doing ok for now - a few seasons will tell - thanks for the detail Steph.

[@cme9758]

Thank you for such a thorough explanation

[@HookedandRooted]

You're very welcome!

[@GardenMoxie]

Great video Steph. Thanks for sharing all that great information.

[@HookedandRooted]

Hi Sue! Thank you so much, glad you enjoyed it 🌲

[@ItsTrulyRachel]

Thank you for sharing this great content! You’re so good on camera with a warm disposition!

[@HookedandRooted]

Oh thank you!

[@judyingram-kh1vm]

Steph, thank you for so much information on both trees, id love to plant me some green giants for some winter interest behind my garden shed that goes into the woods. The deer ate so much of my flowers last year. They are just thick in our woods, they always have their babies every year back there, 2 mama's had twins last soring and 1 had triplets. Now we have sooooo many. My husbands loves them. They know they are protect back there. Our 2 eat terriers are to old to care 13 and 14. Our little mico mini dashound is 1 and ahalf. The deer aren't scared of her. But boy she chases them, they see me vehind her and they put them big white tails up and away they go. She prances up to the yard with that chest stuck out and that tail straight up in the air likes shes 10 ft. tall. My husband just loves that little baby dog so much abd so do i. So i guess ill have to get those spikes that you get and try harder to keep them dang deer back in the woods where they belong. Great video. Thank you for sharing this with us ❤

[@denisedelgado3350]

We too are in the city and chose to line our south side of the yard with the emerald green arbs, I don’t remember how long ago we planted them, but years ago. They’re about 12+ feet now and privacy is key 😉

[@HookedandRooted]

That's wonderful Denise! I agree privacy out in the yard is so nice.

[@jeansandhoodiegardengal2975]

Oooohhhhhh my sista….I’m intrigued….. just started this video!!!!!😘😘😘

[@taragoodloe4122]

Loved this video! Very helpful as I am debating over both these trees in my yard.

[@LifeHomeandGardenwithAnaRica]

Thank you so much, great comparison!

[@lorrainelangley5354]

Thank you Steph! very helpful and appreciated you sharing! From Oklahoma

[@Northeast_Mainiac]

Great comparison between the two and you answered a lot of my questions, we bought 23 from our local HD which we are going to be useing as a natural fence

[@lordvonmanor6915]

Any advice for Deer, and Squirrels? They keep remodeling my garden.

[@mariar2183]

Very helpful video because I need some privacy from my neighbor. Thanks for sharing 😊

[@HookedandRooted]

You’re welcome 😊Thanks Maria!

[@tdz69]

What a great video. Very informative. Thank you. I love the green giants but considering the spacing you need for them, the arborvitae may be a better option. I don’t want to lose 6 feet off of my fence line which seems to be what you have to allow for with these. In the front yard I don’t have a fence separating my neighbors so perhaps the green giants for the front.

[@lyonsdavid]

so much good information, and your mic is awesome, didn't hear any wind, and it looked like it was windy

[@pointnozzleaway]

Great info, I have been looking at Both. The Emerald will work for me ! 👍

[@Japo0po0]

Hoping to find out the in-row spacing of the Green Giants featured in your video, and the spacing between the two rows (back row to front row). Any measurements? I want to do this staggered two-row design. This is the first video I've found showing the staggered design with wider spacing. I love it! Thank you!

[@dougieh6680]

Great info and video. We planted 17 Green Arborvitae for privacy purposes and to block “new” neighbors. Could you please provide guidance for filling out width vs the height? Planted 3’ from center and they are very healthy. I guess I’m just a little worried after 4 years. They haven’t gained very much in width. Have A Great Day.

[@AnaMartinez-t1h]

Hi, do you happen to know what distance your neighbor's planted their trees? I'm about to receive an order of the greent giant and still questioning how far apart they should be. I like the way your neighbor's planted theirs.

[@fiorela6194]

What about the emerald green roots? I live in the city and the sewer line always gets clotted with trees roots, do you know if there is a possibility of that happen with the emerald green too?

[@debs-more-plants]

Niece comparison!

[@kellymichalec9126]

Man, I want the Green Giant ones if only they were a zone 4b. Thanks for the video, something to look up because those wld be great for what I want

[@HookedandRooted]

Hi Kelly! I know, they are rated to a zone 5. They are great trees. I would recommend doing some research to see if anyone is growing them near you. Maybe even try a small one in a container to see how it does. At the end of season, I often find them on clearance. Thanks for watching! 🌲

[@kellymichalec9126]

Thanks for the tips!!!

[@josweatt898]

We planted small cedar trees along our driveway in Northern VT. They grew to be super tall in no time. I had to clip them each year and I also joined 2 rows together with string at their tops to form an arch to walk into my "Secret garden".

[@kellymichalec9126]

@@josweatt898 that looks to be a great idea!!! Some are good down to zone 2! And deer resistant, score

[@deborahplyler6528]

Thanks for sharing

[@simplybloom]

I am sending this video to my husband! lol I’ve been telling him the last year that I want to do a hedge of arbs because we live next to a field and it’s only a matter of time before the owner sells and I’m guessing it will go to developers. We’d buy it if we could but just don’t have the finances. My husband thinks the deer will just devour them (which is a good possibility) but if we try the green giant and then just put extra protection around them when they’re young I think they’ll do fine.

[@HookedandRooted]

Hi Mya, Is baby here yet? I hope your feeling well 💚If you find a green giant, try a smaller one in a container grouping. See how it fares for you. That's a good way to try it out for a year or 2 before making an investment in a bunch of them. Also, they often go on clearance at the end of the season which is a great time to pick them up.

[@simplybloom]

@@HookedandRooted baby is happy to be warm and content in my belly still lol I officially just turned 39 weeks so hopefully sometime in the next week he’ll be born! Just got a blizzard the last two days so I’m kind of glad I didn’t go into labor during the blizzard. Thanks for checking in!

[@chigrows312]

Very nice I love the way the emerald greens filled out, forming the thick dense fence. How far apart are they planted from each other to make that beautiful privacy wall?

[@brodygoalie]

I have them a bit too close to my fence/ property line. Should i trim so branches ate not touching the fence? Anything above the fence letting them grow or should i trim even above fence? Thanks

[@patriciaflores2776]

Thanks for showing the diff.

[@HookedandRooted]

You are so welcome Patricia!

[@davevincent3030]

Great video!

[@Beautishka1]

this video is just what I need.... THANK YOUUU

[@HookedandRooted]

You are very welcome, glad it was helpful.

[@brendacaley9333]

Great vid. The comparison I needed! I'm looking to do exactly as your parents did. Chainlink and suburban privacy. Question: did your parents space the Emerald Greens 3' on centre ? Thank you!!

[@TiffanyP1019]

These are both beautiful! Do you know, can you plant the green giants a little closer to each other? Just to have it more closed off if that makes sense.

[@KKRiver861]

How tall were the Green giant's when they were planted 5 years ago? Sorry if I missed it.

[@doug_errickson]

Great video amd info. Thnx

[@HookedandRooted]

Thanks for the comment! I'm glad you found the video helpful.

[@Jennspage1]

how far apart did your parent planted their Emerald Green to make it look tight and close together like that in the backyard video. Is that 1.5', 2' or 2.5' apart? Thank you so much

[@yumi419]

Great video! Did your neighbor plant the trees outside their property line? I have an access road directly behind my house and I wanted to plant green giants there, but it would be outside my property line (county owned area), and the county has given me so much crap for planting anything, especially since my neighbors have trees along the backside of their property but I don't... they seem to like taking advantage of parking behind my house...

[@HookedandRooted]

Hello, their trees are planted within their property line.

[@amyhoff1501]

Hi Steph, how far apart would you say your parents planted the emerald green arborvitae‘s to create this beautiful hedge? Great video and information on both species

[@HookedandRooted]

Hi Amy, My parents planted their trees 3 feet apart on center. Hope this helps. Thank you so much! 🌲

[@amyhoff1501]

@@HookedandRooted That helps very much as i planted a hedge of emerald green and i did the same distance but always wondered if they should be further apart. The plants were from HD and very small , only 6 or 7 dollars a piece in the fall of 2022. They are doing very well and I’m using the hedge to divide my backyard into vegetable garden towards the back of the property and shrubs and perennial bed in the front , much love ❤️ from the Western part of Massachusetts

[@Hill-u2b]

Very helpful. Thks so much.

[@tennewsongs]

I'd really appreciate if you could give the planting distances for your parent's emerald greens. Great video! Thanks!

[@HookedandRooted]

Hello, My parents emerald green arborvitae were planted 3 feet apart on center. Thank you.

[@peggy1844]

Hi Steph, do you think I could trim the top of emerald arborvitae so they are only 3-4 ft tall? I bought some small ones to decorate at Christmas and haven’t know what to do with them after the holidays. I want to enclose a small area in my yard but I only want the hedge to be 3-4 ft tall. When you showed how your parents made a wall with them I wondered if I could do the same thing but much shorter. I am concerned they might be too fast growing for such a short height. What do you think?

[@3asy_as_123]

Very informative. Thankyou!

[@paigeschultz6951]

Some say these won’t do as well in Texas 8 a/b Dallas area? Technically they’re in our zone on the tag, but the heat may too hard on them? Any thoughts?

[@HookedandRooted]

You might be right. Perhaps if they get morning sun vs. harsh afternoon sun, and sufficient water, they might be ok.

[@3091752]

What spacing did your parents use for theirs ? thanks

[@wendyhanberg8733]

Well now I know why mine look weird…. The deer 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@karunald]

This was helpful. Thank you

[@shannonmoffett6530]

So helpful!!!! Thank you

[@garmaldolne679]

Great information❤

[@Hybrid.flower]

This was so helpful. Thanks

[@HookedandRooted]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching 🌲

[@kristyswegman5221]

What are your thoughts on junipers for hedging?

[@Thinking.Of.Some.Handle]

I wonder if Laura and Aaron from Garden Answer follow .. seems like a channel they may like 😊

[@HookedandRooted]

Hello! I would be flattered 💚

[@dustyflats3832]

I just planted emerald green arbs last fall for a statue backdrop. We had the flat branched larger arb at last residence and didn’t like how the branches turned brown in fall and shed. Not sure of variety. 😂I do know the deer eat emeralds as neighbor down the road put up plastic fencing to protect as they were getting sheared. The wildlife will eat everything here and fencing is necessary on everything.

[@infectedplus1]

Can we plant them in pots? Looking for a two-three meter fence, north wind, Mediterranean climate.

[@HookedandRooted]

I suppose you could, but they would have to be very large pots. They emerald green might be a better option as they grow slower than the green giant. However, after a couple of years they will need to get out of those pots as their roots will need space and the tree might start to suffer. You might look up cypress trees (the Italian cypress) might be a good option for you climate.

[@infectedplus1]

@@HookedandRooted thank you so much for the advice :)

[@Toya-Doing-Stuff]

Very helpful video. Thank you!!@

[@yesidtac7863]

Buenos arboles

[@jzam5426]

Do both remain robust and full during the winter?

[@HookedandRooted]

Hello, Yes as they are both evergreen, they do not lose their foliage.

[@jzam5426]

@@HookedandRooted thank you!

[@williamwade7059]

Very Helpful 😂

[@kd-wl9yk]

I tried plant 2 but they didn’t survive I didn’t water them like I should have

[@snowdrop290]

Arborvitaes are to temper-mental: deers, needle drop, constant watering etc. Hollies are the best way to go for a privacy screen. Plant them, water the first year and off they go no constant maintenance like arborvitae.

[@anorthpole]

How well do they grow in zone 9b?

[@HookedandRooted]

Hello, Both these trees are rated to a zone 8. However you could do some research in your area to see if anyone is successfully growing these varieties near you. Hope this helps.

[@janettefisher256]

I say privacy fence and the arbs … one can never have enough privacy

[@ghostrider_xx]

Should be pronounced "arbor-vi-tie" pretty sure. It's Latin.

[@HookedandRooted]

Hi there! I've actually looked this up since I heard a very large & popular gardening channel pronounce it as you suggested. However, the way I pronounce it is actually correct. But I don't mind how people wish to pronounce their plant names as I know it can sometimes be a regional thing on how certain words are pronounced. Hope this helps. Thank you so much for watching, and for your comment.

[@s.barlow7062]

So very helpful. I just planted a Leland Cypress in my back yard for privacy. I may add a couple of green giants to expand the look. Thanks Steph. 🌷🪻🪻