help with shrub selection please

Hello everyone,

I'm not new to DG, but this is my first venture into this forum. I need help selecting a shrub and was hoping someone here could help.

A friend of mine has a newly-planted (last year) foundation bed on either side of her centered front door. It has spirea, hostas, heucherella, boxwood, and hakone grass, all of which are doing amazingly well.

The missing piece is that she wants a tall shrub on either side of the door. She is not a gardener, and I am not a designer, so we need help. We need evergreen, eight to ten feet tall, 3 feet wide (at the base), preferably pyramidal, half-sun/half shade (morning sun, but hot sun), quite good soil, zone 6. It would most likely have good wind protection, as it is against the house and additionally her front yard slopes upward and she has two large cherry trees on either side of the centered front walk. She currently has some wide fat hollies in this spot, in large pots, which she doesn't like.

I've come across what seemed like good choices at first, only to be done in by wildly conflicting descriptions, depending on what site you visit, especially when it comes to height. So I am hesitant to make a decision - I don't want to plant a 30-foot tree in her front bed!

Additionally, it seems like many things that might fit here are very slow growers, so they cost big bucks. I'm looking for something I can get at a reasonable price.

Since this is for someone else and not myself, and since she is not a gardener and doesn't understand the differing results one can have with plants, I am trying to find something as foolproof as possible, in terms of fitting her needs. She is pretty much looking for something like an alberta spruce, only about 3 feet taller.

Any suggestions would be most gratefully appreciated!

Thank you all!
Dee

You may want to check out the American Conifer Society's website. There are many small conifers that would probably work and they would have the best sources for them.

Thank you! I'll do that!

Dee

My first thought was Italian Cypress but you're a little to cold for that.

Italian Cypress also get quite a bit taller than 8-10 ft...I've got some on the side of my house that are at least 30 ft tall.

Yes, that's what worries me - planting something that will end up being way too tall!

I tried accessing the American Conifer Society database, but I can't seem to... do you have to be a member to access it?

Dee

I'm not sure. I have not used the site in a while other than the links section.

There are some columnar Japanese holly selections (Ilex crenata), as well as some columnar Boxwood types (Buxus sempervirens). Both of these species are well-suited to CT conditions and are generally available in a decent size. They also both respond well to occasional pruning or shearing, which would enable one to manage the size as needed.

If you are willing to take a ride, visit the UConn display gardens/arboretum that houses Dr. Sid Waxman's conifer collection. He spent a career collecting and developing great conifers. When I was able to visit this site in 1995, there were hundreds of plants that could fit your criteria - and these would be good examples right there in your state.

Bear in mind that plant labels, as I understand it, are giving size to expect in ten years. That doesn't mean the plant will stop growing when it reaches that size. Dwarf plants are slow growing, so take longer to outgrow the space--their advantage as they get big, their disadvantage in the early years. VIbernumValley is correct that the key is to go for something that takes pruning well, especially if you pick a fast grower.

Check out fastigiate yews. Yews take pruning very well.

Thanks everyone for the further suggestions. Many of the hollies and yews that seem to fit our size needs are more columnar than pyramidal, unfortunately. Haven't found a great choice for my friend, yet, but I love both yews and hollies myself, so I am having fun looking at all them. Might end up with a few of these in my own garden!

Thank you!

Check out Picea pungens 'Blue Totem' and Fastigiata. I am going to get one or the other myself this fall. They are narrow yet pyramidal and fairly slow-growing.