A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 Thuja Green Giant Tree Question / Opinions?

I just received my Park seed Catalog and saw these trees for sale.
Greg

I've been asking this same question for a few years, Greg, and have yet to find an answer!

Hope someone comes along and loves these trees!

Thuja is arbor vitae. Sometimes considered invasive, they are none-the-less used extensively for hedges, windbreaks and specimens. There is an ORIENTALIS and an OCCIDENTALIS, if memory serves the main difference being the orientation of the foliage. Hardy and able to survive tough conditions like drought. Green Giant would be a cultivar of one of these. Keep in mind that some types may reach a diameter of 40 feet if not maintained, but once yearly pruning contains the growth.

I bought 4 of the Occidentalis trees last year at walmart on clearance for $3 each!

Mine are growing great and expected to reach a height of 10-12 feet....

Thanks for the detailed info, pepper, but I am looking for someone who has actually grown these for a few years.

loz - might you be able to take a picture of yours sometime?

Sure, as soon as it warms up a tad and there isn't a ton of snow still out there....lol

I found a little more info on them at Musser Forests.com. Under Arborvitae, Green Giant.
I might have to try a couple out in the spring..i have never seen them around here..
Greg :angel:

Sorry, Lynne, I have been growing these for a few years, what specifically do you want to know? I've maintained and cared for numerous thuja for my clients, as well. Mine are still small, though growing well in the poor sandy soil we have on our property. I'm guessing Green Giant may be nothing more than a catchy name Park came up with to sell the standard Thuja Occidentalis. They're known for fast growth, and they are one of the best evergreens for windbreaks. They are also said to be good for wildlife, although I'm convinced there are other, better choices for that. They have one major pest problem that I'm familiar with, bagworms. These are easily controlled, however, with a non-toxic spray called Thuricide. Let me know if you would like more info.
Loz...10-12 feet is a misleading number. These things can reach 30 plus feet in 10 to 20 years...many people let them get very overgrown, then want them cut back drastically.

Loz...in case you haven't noticed, they ALWAYS lie on those tags at almost all nurseries. Ever buy a "dwarf" variety of a shrub? I think they're afraid you won't buy things if they get very big. The labels refer to the size something will get in 5 to 10 years a lot of times...and the bad part is, nurserymen don't always get to see what happens to plants after they leave the nursery! Ah, well, more jobs for the treetrimmers, I say!

Hi pepper - what I was most wanting to know is, is this truly as deer resistant as some of the ads say it is?!? I put in a hedge of 21 arbovitae about 10 years ago - bought them from a nursery upstate and I specifically told them about the deer - I was infuriated to find the trees eaten to the trunks the first year, and every year since! They should have been up front with me as to how much the deer LOVE those trees!!! We now have rather tall topiaries that do not do anything to block our neighbor's messy driveway!!!

I also agree with the labels - I bought 2 "dwarf" ornamental grasses a two years ago to plant around my mailbox - they are now about 4 feet high. Much higher than I was looking for, and I understand now that they are supposed to get even bigger.

If they ate them before, they'll eat these. The Green Giant will not be any different, unless in minor aspects like shade of green or overall shape or size. It's good to know that they will eat arbor vitae, I had also heard they won't.

Hope this helps:



This photo shows local variety of thujas beside my driveway. They were set out over twenty five years ago, and are sheared annually, around March. They give off a sweet fragrance while being sheared.

< Click the photo to see Parkseed.com's pic of their 'Green Giant". >

The best advantage to buying a named cultivar,in my opinion, is that you'll get a uniform foliage texture in your hedge, since you'd be using clones, whereas I have three distinctly different foliage forms in my small screen of three trees.

Does anyone know of a reputable mail order company i could order these from? I am always leery about buying trees in the mail..
I'm wondering if our local garden centers will get them in? Anyone here live near Rockford, IL?
Greg

Yes, link below. I ordered 20 of these 12" seedlings and planted them in the spring of '04. Excellent service. Excellent product. I was just looking at them this past weekend and they ALL look great. They are roughly 2 and a half feet tall now.

Anything Green

I'm planning to buy some thuja green giant for privacy in our suburban back yard. I came across this thread while searching for the growth rate of these shrubs in my particular zone which is zone 5.
I wanted to share something I've found out about these shrubs/trees. The thuja occidetalis is commonly sold as the thuja green giant, but thuja occidentalis is actually just a white cedar. A true thuja green giant is a cross between a thuja plicata and a thuja standishii. I guess unless you ask the company for the latin name, it would be quite possible to end up with the wrong tree which isn't resistant to deer and doesn't grow as fast. Here's a couple of web-sites that might help. www.usna.usda.gov/Newintro/grgiant.pdf and www.thujagreengiant.biz/

Here's a link to the same US National arboretum info in Goodkind's post, but it's not pdf. The company hosting this page also sells them. I've been thinking of ordering some of their bare-root trees. They have muliple sizes from bare root at $1.25 apiece or $1.00 apiece if you buy 25 or more up to 5-6 foot trees in 5 gallon pots for $55 apiece.

Green Giant fact sheet

Lynne, the National Arboretum fact sheet says that the Green Giants are much more deer resistant than the typical arborvitaes. I asked my local nurseryman about them and he said that on the Green Giants, he has seen a little deer browsing, but only on the tips of the shoots, not total defoliation like on other arborvitaes. He said that the deer browsing on the Green Giants was similar to that on Leyland Cypress that he has seen, but that in our climate here, the Leylands sometimes tend to get a little brownish in the winter.

Thanks so much for that info, Terry!
My hedge is looking pretty bad this year...

Leylands are also much more susceptible to disease and to limbs breaking from snow and ice. I was just looking at mine this weekend and they look great coming out of a fairly mild winter.

I really want to buy some of these
'Thuja Green Giants ', and have been looking up here
for some time.Anyone know of a Canadian distributer?
Toronto area ?
I am certain they will grow here no problem at a zone 5 (at least). With the warming trends maybe warmer....
It is a little tricky to order from the US as I have
discovered. A local guy or one within country is best.

Anyone ?

I've been watching this tread with great interest. I too, spotted these in the Park's catalog and thought these would be perfect for a quick hedge. Hopefully they will be available at the local nursery this spring.

I have 5 Thuja Emerald Greens.....mine have been very slow growers really, but when I bought them there were only a foot tall maybe...on clearance for $3 each at Walmart.