P90824K‘Six on Saturday’ is a weekly tradition for many of us who enjoy sharing six horticulturally oriented pictures on Saturday. I just did it earlier this morning.

This is not ‘Six on Saturday’. It is just one picture of six arborvitae. What’s worse is that there is an indistinguishable seventh at the far end of the row. It blends into the sixth in this picture. There are seven barberry between them, with the seventh beyond the last arborvitae. This picture was taken more than a week ago, so most of the amaryllis are done blooming now.

This row of arborvitae and barberry was installed early last winter, after a grungy hedge of photinia was removed. It would have been nice to salvage the photinia, but they were such a mess that the process would have taken more than two years, and even then, would have been patchy.

These arborvitaes will not grow into a contiguous hedge like the photinia were, but already soften the otherwise uninviting visual impact of the plain and uniform fence behind. They will grow taller and broader, but will never get so big that they will be difficult to maintain. It should be easy enough to get behind them to prune away parts that get too close to the fence.

I happen to be pleased that we were able to incorporate this sort of formality into an otherwise completely informal landscape. The irregularity of the terrain, as well as the randomness of the big forest trees that were here before landscapes were installed, make such formality nearly impossible. Even if it were easier, formality is not exactly fashionable in landscape design.

Despite their imposed formality and exotic origins, both the arborvitae and the barberry are remarkably compatible with the native flora of the surrounding forest landscape.

14 thoughts on “Fake Six on Saturday”

    1. They are ‘Emerald Green’. I really like them too. They look like something that belongs in western Oregon. They are uncommon, but the most popular arborivatae here.

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      2. Is there a species of arborvitae that is native to Florida and Georgia? The white cedar (arborvitae) is from the East, but up near Canada. It seems like there is a species in Florida, but I do not remember what it is.

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      4. Is that what the old fashioned golden arborvitae is? Those are not as common as they used to be. They do well in Los Angeles. I do not know how well ‘Emerald Green’ does there. I really do not remember ever seeing any.

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      6. Yup. (I had to look that up.) My colleague down south considers them to be ‘trailer park’ flora. I normally prefer old fashioned plants, but for arborvitaes, I mostly prefer the modern columnar forms, and the rich green.

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