Question
I have a cottage in way way northern NY, zone 3-4 depending on who's map one uses.  -30 -35 below is not uncommon in winter. I live in northern VA and we use Leyland Cypress sucessfully for this purpose.  Two years ago I took some up there, and to my non surprise they didn't live through the winter.  I had to try.  Is there anything similar you can suggest other than Arborvitae, which I'm not crazy about. Seems like there should be some low to ground growing cedar of some sort. Red cedar seems to be bare from ground to about 4' or so..that doesn't give me the privacy factor I am seeking.  Heard about Alaska cedar, but can't seem to find any pitcures of them or anyone selling them.  HELP! Many thanks for any ideas

Answer
There are some native Northern Cedars I am sure of. I live in Kentucky(zone6)and I went out in my woods
when I lived in the country and dug up some of our native cedars for a privacy/property line that seperated
our neighbors. They grew FAST and in only 3 years they well exceeded 10ft and by their 5th season they were 12ft or a bit over.The area that I planted them in wasjust below a small slope and water stood on them for days at a time and they just soaked itup.So they are true natives and you just can't go wrong with
an evergreen tree that lives in any weather condition in the wild.The cedars start from about 2ft above the
ground
and they get about 3 to 4 ft wide and as tall as 60 to 70 ft tall at maturity(about 20 years).Our winters are
not as cold as yours.We get an average temp in the winter of 20 degrees.Very seldom do we have below
zero temps althouth our wind chill goes to about -5 or -6 at the coldest. However,there are cedars
throughout the US and I am sure you have them in your area.They are probably Northern Cedars.If you want to save money this is the best
way to do it.
If you go to a nursery or garden center and buy another kind of evergreen tree,you could be looking at a
very expensive project,but the trees will most certainly be guaranteed.Make sure they are before
purchasing. If you want to go through a good mail order nursery go to Musser Forest Nursery on line and
look at their selection.They have a wide selection of evergreens and you can get small ones at a great
price and they will have details on their descriptions of each tree variety that will tell you if they will survive
your winter temps. I can't think of another evergreen nursery,but I am sure you can find one on the internet
by doing a direct search for evergreen trees. If you can't find one just mail me back and I will find one for
you. Hope this helps and good luck with your privacy screen.I know how important they truly are!