what breed conifers

Im looking for 4 conifer trees to plant in my garden to give me some privacy,what are the best to get is it ok to buy the ones you see in local DIY shops or a certain breed?
Want them to grow quick and to a height of around 20 ft

 

wouldnt have leylandi as they are known to sap the moisture from under foundations.

 

my garden has a spring going through it somewhere anyway so it wouldnt matter too much to me

 

Trouble with leylandii is they won't stop at 20ft, they will keep going to a potential 100ft. You will have a job trying to keep them pruned to the height of 20ft.
Lawson cypress is similar but not quite as fast growing.

 

how long do you think it will take a Lawson cypress to grow to 20Ft

 

Nothing will grow quickly to twenty feet and then stop.

Nature doesn't work that way.

And cutting a 20ft high hedge is no joke.

 

My trees are around 12 feet now and are a pain to try and cut. Mine are just leylandi but planted close together they do make a good screen.

 

Although not evergreen, willow (Salix) might be a good idea. Different varieties grow to between 10ft - 30ft, have lovely coloured stems such as red, yellow or purple, are fast growing and produce catkins in spring.
Some info here for you:
http://www.bluebellnursery.com/cgi-bin/catalogue.cgi?cat=t&genus=Salix&initial=S

 

Thought I might breathe new life into this thread with some of my favourite conifers and evergreens. Perhaps others can get some planting ideas from the list, too. I selected them either because of their weeping habit or for their attractive foliage - I'm afraid I'm irresistibly drawn to pendulous plants... As my little trees are still hopelessly small (2 feet on average) - it is best to google them to get the idea how they'll look like as a bunch in ten years...

The pendulous ones:

Cedrus deodara 'Eisregen' and 'Karl Fuchs'
It's part of the Paktia group - their winter hardiness is the best. This and 'Karl Fuchs' are the two that survived the harsh winters here. It has a straight, columnar habit, unfortunately less spreading than the usual deodaras. 'Karl Fuchs' resembles more to a ragged pine now, than to the graceful habit of the deodaras. Eventually they'll grow out of it - or, at least, I hope so!

Cedrus deodara 'Golden Horizon'
Another loss now, for sure. It grows comparatively rapidly for a small evergreen, it was staked and looked gorgeous on the lawn with its bright lime colour that turned slowly a bit darker as summer advanced. Although the groundcover deodaras are considered to be more winterhardy, this one failed.

Newly grafted and small cedars tend to be very sensitive to hard frosts and do need to be protected for several years, my small 'Feelin'Blue' passed the -20°C test. Pity, it still so small its foliage isn't very showy yet, but it's the other groundcover cedar worth giving a thought.

Cryptomeria japonica 'Elegans Viridis'
This beauty fulfilled all my hopes of having a bright green patch in the winter garden. With so little colour in the winter months, it is essential to have some evergreen bushes that attract the attention in the grey and brown landscape.

Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Filifera Aurea'
Although still very small, so its shape is not what one can expect, but I can't complain about its colour: it's the brightest yellow one can get in the winter months. Its spreading habit irresistibly reminds me of a beautiful lady in a yellow raffia grass robe with a lot of necklaces, who had put on a dozen stones...

Chamaecyparis nootkatensis
I have two of this very pendulous plant: one is bright green, the other is greyish and even their habit is different. One is like layers of two dimensional curtains running parallelly, while the other has wide ribbon-like foliage hanging in multiple rows.

Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Imbricata Pendula'
This is a true green bead curtain, or it's going to look like one when it grows to a decent height. It isn's suitable for screening, but as a specimen tree it stands out of the ordinary Chamaecyparises.

Taxus 'Dovastoniana'
A maddeningly slow grower until it establishes. Mine took three years and then took off and grew a foot within a year. It's a weeper, but with all the usual characteristics of a Taxus. I expect it to grow eventually to 3 metres.
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Picea breweriana and Picea smithiana
Both have a strong weeping habit, although they don't need to be staked, but the secondary branches hang like a curtain. Breweriana is an extremely slow grower, smithiana is a bit better. Brewer pine's foliage is very dark with a little silver on the underside, while smithiana has a silvery greyish tint and springs out of the dark backdrop of the woods.

Cupressus cashmeriana
I acquired an exremely winterhardy, bluish green selection with shorter habit that I thought it might survive. It didn't and I regret it bitterly. It grew a metre last year and began to form its irresistible shape, but whatever the grafting is, it is unsuitable for a cold continental garden.

Pinus strobus 'Pendula'
This one is a gem when it grows to an acceptable height. It has to be staked and then let it weep. It likes slightly acidic soil and it has a greyish-bluish colour in summer. In winter it is more matte and has more green in it.


The ones with special foliage:

Pinus wallichiana 'Zebrina'
Perhaps the most cherished conifer in my little collection, and the most awaited one as well. It survived the winter with very little frost damage and even started to show some signs of putting on new growth. Its foliage is exactly what I expected: a lush curtain of butteryellow striped, extremely long needles in the characteristic clusters of five. I still don't know how I'll have the heart to half the candles to make the foliage more dense and its habit more compact...

Pinus densiflora 'Oculus Draconis'
In spite of the fancy name, it is only a pine with yellow variegated needles that hates heavy chalk clay, and refused to grow properly. I might give it some time, though.

Sciadopytis verticillata
Japanese umbrella pine will grow to 3 metres - in some generations' time. Until then, it is suitable for small gardens but will have yellow needles and other signs of chlorosis in alkaline soil. Still, its soft, thick needles and their arrangement is an eye-catcher. It grows 9-10 in. per year.

Abies concolor 'Glauca Compacta' and 'Violacea'
They're ideal for adding a silvery spots to the garden: 'Glauca Compacta' turns a bit darker with some bluish hue in its needles, but 'Violacea' keeps its amazing silvery white colour all year round. It grows very slowly until it establishes, but its small sister, Compacta took off immediately.

Pinus x holfordiana
This is a cross between Pinus ayacahuite and Pinus wallichiana with needles the length of a smaller wallichiana, but without its weeping habit because they're much thicker. The foliage is massive green, like a well-fed lawn, and it grows at the same rate as well.

Pinus armandii
This pine originates from the Far-East, and has long needles and a loose habit with a semi-tropical look. Its soft, bicolor, light blue-green needles with silver undersides are fascinating. It's a fast grower, doesn't mind alkaline soil, and had no winter damages at all! I love it.

Pinus koraiensis
Its dense habit and its light, yellowish green colour with comparatively long needles makes it a beautiful tree even when it's still very small. It grows pretty fast, and appreciates regular watering.