Source: Fast-Growing-Trees.com (SC)
Size shipped: 3-4', potted
Planted: In ground, April 2019
First flowering: Who's keeping track?
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(This plant stayed behind when I moved in 2021; therefore, the following text will receive no further updates.)
This plant, as shipped from F-G-T, redefined the word "rootbound". I probably didn't cut into the
root ball as diligently as I should have to correct the issue before planting. But this was a tree I
bought out of need, not want: we had to replace the "I'm-not-dead-yet" arborvitae (the one that was
pushed over in the March 2018 storms but still survived) with SOMEthing, or that corner of the house
just wouldn't look right.
Unfortunately, we hadn't gotten the old tree's stump ground yet before this one arrived, so we
had to plant it slightly farther out from the house than the old one had been.
As of August 2019, I've hardly done anything to it -- I stopped bothering to water it after a while, even in the July heatwaves -- and I haven't noticed it complaining yet. I imagine this state of affairs will continue for quite some time, as I simply don't care about it enough to do more. If it dies, I'll likely replace it with something showier than an arborvitae... maybe a holly?
Also, another knock on F-G-T (besides the appalling roots): I discovered some time later that I could have had a much nicer-looking specimen of the same height or better for less money, from just about any local nursery or big box store around here (even the wholesale club!). And honestly, this thing doesn't even look like all the other Emerald Greens available at those places. It looks more like a Thuja plicata cultivar, maybe 'Spring Grove', and it certainly did not stay green in the winter like an Emerald Green is supposed to do.
July 2020 brought the first new growth of the season, to the tune of most of a foot by the ides -- which is also rather unlike an Emerald Green, from what I've read, doing nothing to dispel the thought that F-G-T sent me the wrong tree. But it would still be another 5 years at least before it starts becoming a problem, and clipping it does not look particularly challenging.
Winter of 2021 saw the arborvitae undergo some serious pruning. But not by me -- rather, by the local deer. At least they had the decency to munch from all over the tree instead of just the bottom, as I've seen some other unfortunate arbs around the neighbourhood suffer through. In any case, it didn't ruin the shape or anything, and it looks like it should be fine.