Big Lebowski
Newly Registered
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 12:52 pm
Location: Upstate New York

Emerald Green Arborvitae

Hello. I just purchased and installed 8 (with 6 more to come) Emerald Green Arborvitae from Lowes. I then went to Home Depot for the remaining 6 (lowes card maxed out) and discovered a similar shrub with closer spacing requirements. Quite a bit in fact. Lowes says 15' and the plants at HD says 4'.

This confuses me. I searched the internet and found this site looking for a "real" answer to the spacing. Here's what I bought: Emerald Green Arborvitae - it also says Arborvitae Esmeralda and Thuja occidentalis 'Emerald'. The label states a mature 25' high and 15' wide. Is this what I can expect from this tree? Otherwise I'm going to be waiting many, many years for this tree to spread to 15'. The whole point is a privacy screen. It would be pretty disappointing to discover years from now the label is incorrect. I spaced them 12' so that the coverage is full.

Any suggestions/comments?

MaineDesigner
Green Thumb
Posts: 439
Joined: Thu Nov 09, 2006 11:17 am
Location: Midcoast Maine, Zone 5b

If the plants in question really are Thuja occidentalis 'Emerald' (aka 'Smaragd') the 4' spacing recommendation is more accurate than 15'. Unfortunately misinformation on plant tags and sometimes totally wrong plant identification are a bigger problem than you might think.
I don't use these plants very frequently because they are too vulnerable to damage from deer and snow loading here in midcoast Maine but if a client wanted to use them for a solid screen or hedge I would recommend 3' to, at most, 5' spacing. If you want a little space between each individual tree I would probably opt for 6' spacing. 'Smaragd' is relatively slow growing but like all woody plants they just keep getting larger until they reach senescence so it would help to know what time frame you are thinking of and whether or not you want a continuous hedge.

Big Lebowski
Newly Registered
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 12:52 pm
Location: Upstate New York

I did see the word 'Smaragd' used in the Home Depot shrubs. It does not state that in the Lowes version. I did discover that Lowes offers information about the plants they sell on the website [url]https://www.lowes.com/plants[/url]. You need to be registered to enter. I typed in the plant # and it did in fact say 25' high and 15' wide with 15' spacing. I then searched Emerald Green and found the 'Smaragd' version stating 4' spacing.

I did find a hybrid called Green Giant that grows to these big sizes as well. [url]https://www.parkslandscapes.com/?utm_source=msn?utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=thujagreengiant[/url]. This is the tree that got me interested in the plant I eventually bought at Lowes. Had I went to Home Depot first and found the 'Smaragd' smaller version, I would have bought my plants online to get the height and girth that I wanted.

I do appreciate the response. I felt the Lowes - plant website satisfied my anxiety about being misinformed and will be pretty upset if it doesn't meet my expectations.

Thanks again.



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