Dave and Wayne Mezitt investigate three options for creating a hedge on your property, either as a wind break or a visual screen.

Video Transcription

Dave Epstein: Hi! I’m Dave Epstein. This is Growing Wisdom. A little bit of windy here today, you might hear it in the mike just slightly, a good chance to talk about braking that wind with some interesting evergreens. To me, seeing to the untrained eye I guess, this almost looks like white pine but they are definitely very different from a white pine from the way that they grow, aren’t they? Male: These are narrow growing plants, but they are a white pine. It’s a selection of the native white pine that you see in the woods everywhere, they are huge trees. But this one grows from the bottom branch narrowly and it is called a fastigiated white pine and these will grow quite fast and they make a wonderful windbreaker to plant in the west or the northern side of a property. They make a screen to, if you need a screen out a view, they grow quickly enough so they’ll fill right in. Dave Epstein: When you say quickly, what can folk expect? How fast would that grow? Male: A 2 foot a year growth is a pretty normal for these. Dave Epstein: What about care for these? Where they would grow? Sunlight, water and all that. Male: The white pine likes to grow in full sun, they need just normal soil, they will take a little bit of wet soil, but the well-drained soil is the best for them. You don’t need to take of them at all. Dave Epstein: What would you suggest if you wanted something that is a little bit, you know something maybe the neighbors don’t have? Male: Let me show you the Chamae Cypress. Dave this is a Hinoki Cypress, it’s a Chamae Cypress fall Cypress, but it looks to a lot of people like an arborvitae , just got more texture, slower growing, lot of class to it. This only grows maybe 6 inches, 7 or 8 inches at the most a year. Dave Epstein: And I notice next to us we have -- Male: It’s a different type of Hinoki Cypress. This is a Fernleaf Cypress, see how much more linear this looks, a little faster growing than the Hinoki Cypress, but it’s a Hinoki Cypres that has a different texture. Dave Epstein: More like arms coming out rather than cloudlike structure that we talked about the other one. Male: And this one grows 8 or 10 or 12 inches a year. Dave Epstein: So what about soil conditions? Light and water, the questions I always like to ask about this things for folks at home. Male: Both the fernleaf and the Hinoki Cypress like full sun, they like normal soil conditions, they will even take a little bit of clay soil heavier soil. But the best location is they have good drainage, full sun, and have enough room to spread out if they going to be in ultimately, maybe 12 feet tall, 15 feet tall. Dave Epstein: So Wayne, thanks for the tour. Great plants guys. I loved, especially the last two, I have these in my own yard so I speak from experience, you’ll love them. Really, like you said, a bit of class. We hope you come back every week, everything’s classy here in GrowingWisdom.com.