Privacy Tree Comparison Chart | Snohomish, WA Tree Farm

Mature

Growth

Sunlight

Soil

Can Be

Need to be

Privacy Trees:

Height

Width

Rate

Requirements

Pruned* ?

Watered**?

Comments

Emerald Green Arborvitae

15' +

3-4'

Slow

Full/Close to Full

Well-Drained

Not Necessary

YES

The most popular screening tree

Excelsa Cedar

30-35'

Approx.15'

Medium/Fast

Full/Partial

Wet-soil Tolerant

Yes

YES

The most popular larger screening tree

Green Giant

30-40'

Approx.12'

Fast

Full/Partial

Widely Adaptable

Yes

YES

"Emerald Tower"tm

25-30'

Approx. 8'

Fast

Full/close to Full

Well-Drained

YES

Leyland Cypress

To 60'

Approx. 25'

Fast

Full

Well-Drained

Yes

YES

The fastest-growing screening tree

"Thin Man" Arborvitae

22-25' ***

Fast

Full

Well-Drained

Not Necessary

YES

A new Privacy Tree

"Gold Rider" Cypress

To 35'

To 15'

Medium

F ull

Well Drained

Yes

YES

Color, wonderful color!

English Laurel

To 20'

Fast

Shade Tolerant

Well-Drained

Yes

YES

Schipka Laurel

12-15'

6-8'

Medium

Shade Tolerant

Well-Drained

Yes

YES

Popular size and easy to maintain

Portugal Laurel

15-18'

To 15'

Medium

Full/Partial

Well-Drained

Yes

YES

"H.M. Eddie" Yew

To 20'

3-5'

Moderate

Shade Tolerant

Well-Drained

Yes

YES

The most shade-tolerant

* All of these trees can be left to grow naturally. Those with a "Yes" can also be pruned to maintain a certain size.

**All newly-planted trees need to be watered. If you don't water them, they won't survive.

*** "Thin Man" is a new privacy tree that we are studying. See Thin Man webpage for more information

We deliver and plant these trees. "Planting" includes a watering system, staking if necessary, and a one year warranty for no additional charge. Our planting "Service Area" is the greater Puget Sound area of Western Washington: Bellingham, Mt. Vernon, Everett, Edmonds, Mukilteo, Shoreline, Bothell, Seattle & the "East Side"--Bellevue, Woodinville, Kirkland, Issaquah, Sammamish, etc.--Renton, Kent, Federal Way, Tacoma, south to Olympia and all points in between; plus Highway 2 to Leavenworth & Wenatchee. If you are not in this area, sorry but we will not be able to plant for you.

Click Here for more information about our planting services and/or see the "Advantages" section below.

The following "checklist" is designed to help you get organized to make the right "Instant Privacy” Tree decision. You might want to print or copy this page and keep notes after each question. This will help us work with you to determine the best tree for you.

Emerald Green Arborvitae will grow to a mature height of 12’ or so, which is sufficient for most screening. All the other trees we carry will grow taller than that.

This is a big issue. If you have a large yard, any of our trees will work for you. But if you have either a smaller yard or don’t want to give up a lot of your yard to privacy trees, then you need to look at this carefully. The Emerald Green Arborvitae are popular because they don’t grow more than 2-3’ wide, and don’t require any pruning. Leyland Cypress and Excelsa Cedar will grow to be 12-15’ wide, English Laurel 20’ wide, and the Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar can grow as wide as 50-60 feet. These trees can be pruned to stay in a smaller space, but pruning is tough and/or expensive work.

4. Are you willing to prune your trees, or do you want “low maintenance”?

If so, you need to be careful about putting larger trees next to it—you’ll either need to leave enough room to get in there and prune the trees (a miserable job), or plant them far enough away so they don’t reach the fence (thus using up a lot of your yard). Basically, big trees will eventually push over the fence if left untended. Here again, Emerald Green Arborvitae avoid this problem.

Many people love the look of the Emerald Green Arborvitae, while someone looking for a more “rural” or “natural” look will want to go with firs and cedars. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

Your answer has to be “Yes”; otherwise, build a wooden fence. Newly planted trees need water and so you need access to a water source and a watering/sprinkler system. When we plant the trees we provide, for no additional charge, either a custom-cut, water-efficient dual soaker-hose system (Arborvitae, English Laurel and Bamboo) or a custom-length low-volume emitter system (other Instant Privacy Trees) either of which will attach to your garden hose; and we suggest you buy an automatic watering timer (under $50).

On our Instant Privacy Tree pages, as part of the description of each tree you will see the tree’s “Attributes” explaining its soil and sunlight needs.

Most of our “Instant Privacy” Trees come in more than one size. You also have choices as to how you want to space the trees when you plant them—put them close together to obtain maximum screening now, or space them wider to save on the budget and wait for them to grow together.

You are welcome to simply pick-up the trees from us, but most people have us deliver and plant them. These are big, heavy trees.

When we park our trucks, how far do we need to go to get to the planting area? Are there any stairs, narrow gates, rockeries, etc.? Many of the trees we plant are so large that we need to use equipment to put them in place--do we have "equipment access" to the planting area?

This is usually not a problem, but the question does need to be asked. Your area will have a "one-stop" phone call where you can ask all your utilities at once to come out and mark their location (no charge).

This is usually not a problem but there can be governmental height or type restrictions, particularly in parking strips. Also, private covenants can dictate what can or can't be planted.

You'll want to look at our "Instant Privacy" Photo Gallery, and if you're interested in Emerald Green Arborvitae, see "Everything You Need to Know about 'Emerald Green' Arborvitae". We’d be happy to discuss the options with you over the phone or by e-mail. If you wish, we’ll send you a free, no-obligation estimate of what your project would cost and when we could do it. We also have many happy customers who have agreed to act as references for us--names available upon request.

Privacy Trees: We are a nursery tree farm specializing in Privacy Trees for screening. We have several thousand privacy trees growing at our Snohomish farm. Plus we have many years' experience in "what works where", professional planting services, ongoing support, and thousands of satisfied customers. Buying directly from a grower has great advantages--fresh trees, great selection, and low prices--you maximize your purchasing power. We also have privacy trees that are not available elsewhere, such as our "Hedged Privacy Trees". You can see our hedged and natural privacy trees in our beautiful 8 minute YouTube Farm Video.

Ornamental Trees: We also have a nice selection of Ornamental Trees, with many of our trees being on the "Great Plant Picks" list for the Pacific Northwest.

Free Estimates: We will help you determine which trees are right for your project, and provide you with free, no-obligation estimates. This is often accomplished by e-mail and phone, usually first using our online Free Estimate Request Form. Where necessary, we will send one of our experts out to review the project (no cost or obligation). More information

Location: We’re conveniently located just 15 minutes north of Woodinville. Here's a link to our "Directions" page.

Farm Visits: We are a working farm not a retail nursery so we don't keep regular retail hours; instead we set up appointments so that we can focus on your project. This is particularly important during our busy seasons. Here's a link to more information about why "appointment only" is the best approach. So please set-up an appointment instead of "just coming out". Thank you. (425) 343-2650; info@nurserytrees.com.

Covid-19 Precautions: Covid-19 caused us to make some changes in the way we do things. For a detailed break-down of these steps please see our "Covid-19 Precautions" webpage. These can change with the "ebb and flow" of the Covid virus and we respect any steps a person wants to take to protect themselves.

Payment: We don’t require any money “up front”—you only pay when the job is completed (unusual exceptions to this are large/special projects or lengthy “holds” on trees). Be careful of contractors asking for “up front” money; they might not come back!

Warranty & Support: When we plant your trees we include staking (if necessary), transplanting fertilizer, and an easy-to-use watering system that hooks into your garden hose. More information. We also give a one year Warranty on trees we plant, for no additional charge. More information We have a detailed “Care of Your Trees” section of our website, and provide ongoing support--we're available to answer your questions as your new trees grow. More information

Customer Service: We pride ourselves on our Customer Service—real people answering the phone. We have an "A+" rating with the Better Business Bureau (their highest rating), are an Angie's List Super Service Award winner, have excellent reviews on Yelp, Google, etc. and a 100% satisfaction rating with eBay.

Our Business: We’ve been in business since 1995 and have a dedicated, experienced staff, most of whom have been with us for many years. See: "About Us" for our history. We sell retail & wholesale, for residential and commercial projects. We are a registered Washington State contractor (License Number: NURSEL*956J1). More information Be sure to hire a registered contractor -- to go to the Department of Labor & Industries website to check a contractor's registration, click here. As it says there: "Unregistered contractors carry no bond or insurance to protect consumers. Consumers can face serious issues if anything goes wrong on a job." These liability risks are in addition to fraud, poor workmanship, worthless warranties, etc. We are fully bonded and insured, of course.

"I am really pleased with your work. You saved me several thousand dollars, steered me away from trees that wouldn't work, provided healthy and beautiful trees, did a great job planting them, and did everything on time and on schedule. You can quote me." Jo, Vashon Island

"Our privacy bank of trees has done nothing but grow well into maturity. Our back yard and deck area is totally private and the 10 trees your team planted [in 2005] are rich, leathery and dark green. We remark on them every day it seems. Please include me in any of your "Testimonials" as you would be hard pressed to find a more satisfied customer." Jim, Port Orchard

"For quality vs. value, your trees are the best landscape purchase I’ve ever made." Jeff, Seattle

"Michael, I just wanted to pass along a note to tell you how thrilled I am with the trees. The effect they have brought to our new courtyard in the front of our home here in Seattle has exceeded my expectations!" Chip Hanauer, Hydroplane Driver--Click Here to see his project.

"I work in customer service so I know good service when I experience it and you have my top rating. I would definitely recommend you to anyone who needs new landscaping. Thanks again.” Carol, Camano Island

"The [new] trees were a great privacy feature when we sold the last house! We now have a much larger space we want to talk with you about . . " Katherine, Fall City

“My compliments to your crew. We’ve had a lot of contractors working on our house recently and we’ve seen the entire range; and your guys were excellent. The trees make things look so much better—I started smiling as soon as I saw them going in." Holly, Queen Anne

"You guys are the best nursery I've ever done business with! And I have dealt with a few. You did what you said you would, on time with attention to detail rarely found. From the beginning of the quote process all the way through to the last detail you made it easy. And you work to ensure that the trees will thrive after planting with detailed advice, a complementary irrigation system, and a website filled with useful information. Most nurseries will just dump off the goods and tell you best of luck, put some water on them. You provide a quality product that sets you apart. Your crew was friendly, polite and operated as a well organized team. I would recommend you without hesitation! Thanks for doing a great job!” Ryan, Buckley

"We can not believe how beautiful your trees are. The privacy is unbelievable. If you ever need a testimonial let us know. Our yard is perfect! We sit there and say "my oh my”! Suzanne, Tacoma

"I don't think I've ever been as happy with something I've purchased." Sarah, Sammamish