Heres another smaller compressa taken from this morning

And here is a degroots taken this morning. Hope this helps.

Al

Thanks AL! So would you say the Degroot's is the taller tree? It's not just that the Degroot's pictured here is older than the 2 Compressas?

And the bigger trees in the background of the first picture, those are Leeland Cypress? We have a bunch of them and ours look like yours only much bigger. Not sure how long they've been here as we just moved last year...

I am putting two very slender spruce trees in front of my house. Alternative Views:

Picea omorika 'Pendula Bruns'
Picea abies 'Rotenhausii'

They take some time to get tall but can both get well over ten feet.

Picea omorika 'Pendula Bruns'

Wow Coach, those are both really cool trees. Unfortunately I don't have the space for either of them for where I'm looking to put this guy. Maybe in a few years when I'm done this area...

at about ten years.. my de groots are over 10 feet ... they grow about 12 inches for me.. with my MIs 5 months of winter ... read that .. ground frozen solid ...

and my compressa is still under 3 feet ...

twice it has lost half.. of it limbs and needles.. get this.. vertically ...

once i think for lack of cleaning it out.. disease ..

and then after 3 years.. it fills back in ... and then last winter z4.. kicked its butt ... so half lost again ...

if it isnt obvious to you ... let me clarify.. you need one of each.. lol ...

BTW ... at 10 to 15 years... it impossible to keep degroots single leader ... without removing duplicates trying to leader from all heights ... they are what makes the tree thicker.. over the long haul ... not hard to go 'a prunin' .... once a year or so ... just an observation ...

i cant recall which version of the name joy preferred.. but look up Juniperus communis 'Gold Cone' as a yellow version orf the type .... it is more aggressive than compressa .. for me.. but not as much a degroots ....

another that is very clogged inside... and mine took a hard hit a few years back in an ice storm ... of which.. i doubt you need worry about ....

all three.. in a group.. planted about 5 feet on center... a decade or two... of bliss ... lol .. unless i can think of a blue version ... and them dump a duplicate of the greens ....

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

You didn't indicate any height requirements but this conifer is a good fit from the information provided. So is 'Degroots' but with a different foliage less dense. Both should do well in your 7 zone.

Juniperus communis 'Compessa'. A cultivar that maintains a very dense, compact, fastigate habit.

Mine is 7 ft. tall and 10 inches at the widest point.

Never been sheared but they can to promote tighter growth.

Dave

OK so Ken, thanks for the info. So if I "go a-prunin" (hehe), I simply need to take off every separate new leader that shoots out? Or will I need to do anything to the sides as well? I'm more than willing to prune but I'm new still and don't want to make mistakes that would hurt the tree. I bought a Corona folding saw this year and also have old school Smith&Hawken pruners and loppers, but have been considering a pair of concave cutters too, after seeing some videos that show their good use on maples. And I keep my tools clean. Hopefully that's enough to avoid damage? I don't know what you mean by lack of cleaning it out/disease but it sounds menacing. What do I need to do for "cleaning up"??

Also I love the idea of all 3 grouped together, might actually do that eventually..

Dave, yes! That is exactly what I mean by "oddly skinny". Hope that's not an offensive description to you bc I love the shape of your tree. Hopefully mine will resemble that someday, whatever I choose. So yours hasn't been "sheared"-- does that mean like slicing up, all the way around, with hedgetrimmers? That sounds terrifying and I'm not sure I'd ever be brave enough to try it. A pruning here and there I can handle but the term "shearing" is giving me an entirely different visual.

Gosh really I love your whole area there- it's kind of a dream for mine to look like that someday. Just beautiful. Are the other things there all dwarves too? Is that a mugo pine in the back left? And the golden thing on the left- some sort of hinoki cypress? I know I could be WAY off (I am really really new) but I am starting to at least recognize certain traits of these things. And I have a mini gold fern hinoki cypress in the backyard that looks like your golden thing but much much smaller.

I love Picea abies 'Cuppressina', Sequoidendron giganteum Pendula ( the Dr Suess tree and one of my all time favorites ), and Cupressus sempervirens 'Glauca' ( classic super skinny Italian cypress ). I second the DeGroots but it just couldn't take my warmer Oklahoma zone 7 climate.

Taking one slightly wider step but still very narrow would be Thuja orientalis 'Collen's Gold'.

This fall I'm bringing in an Abies nordmanniana 'Pendula' and a Picea abies 'Rotenhausii' . Both unusual and very narrow.

mark

Hey Mark,
Each one of those trees is amazing but according to my quick google searches, much too big for my space-- except that last one. 'Rotenhausii', are you kidding me?? I LOVE IT.
I might post another question to get more personal insight from others with the tree. The first 4 sites that describe it give different stats, hate that. Never know what to believe. Something eventually in the 10' tall range would be ideal but nearing 20' would be ok too. Not more than 5' wide and ideally not more than 2-3'.. But that shape! Ugh I love it. It'll be on the shadier side of the house but not super shady. Part shade I suppose, zone 7. All 4 sites did say full sun though so I may get this one for another area.

Anyway, thanks for the heads up!