A consideration in selecting screening plants for this Chapel Hill garden is finding trees or shrubs that are dense enough to perform their duty without growing too tall or wide.  The existing garden borders the back yard on three sides.  Adding screening will necessarily consume some of the planting area. In trying to hide unsightly views, there is still a wish to preserve as much garden as possible and to maintain sun exposure for existing plants.  The screens must create more privacy while avoiding a walled-in feeling.

Arizona Cypress 'Carolina Sapphire'

Family: Cupressaceae
Genus: Cupressus
Species: C. arizonica

Currently in the garden, providing screening and anchoring the northwest corner, is an Arizona Cypress cultivar named ‘Carolina Sapphire.’ This silvery-blue evergreen and its two companions marking the southwest corner, are around twenty feet tall after ten years.  They have become much wider than expected, practically engulfing several of the gardenias planted along the back perimeter. Reliable they are though. They have survived several summers of severe drought during which numerous Japanese hollies, gardenias and other shrubs browned and died. Overall Arizona Cypress are beautiful and noteworthy specimens.