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American Pillar Arborvitae is a fast-growing, columnar evergreen that brings privacy and elegance while fitting into narrow landscapes. Its vertical form makes it perfect for tight urban yards and formal hedges. Despite its slender silhouette, it delivers dense foliage and dependable year-round screening.
Growing to 15–20 feet tall and only 3–4 feet wide, American Pillar offers a streamlined profile that won’t overwhelm your space. Easy to maintain and highly adaptable, it's a strategic alternative for sites where a wide spread isn’t feasible—but you still want strong, vertical coverage.
| Scientific Name: | Thuja occidentalis ‘American Pillar’ |
| Shape: | Tall and narrow, columnar |
| Growth Rate: | Up to 2–3 ft per year |
| Shipping Size: | 7'-8' balled & burlapped |
| Mature Size: | 15–20 ft tall, 3–4 ft wide |
| Planting Spacing: | 2.5–3 ft apart for hedge; 3–4 ft in staggered rows |
| Leaf Type/Arrangement: | Flat sprays with tight-scale foliage—more compact than Green Giants |
| Fragrance: | Subtle cedar scent |
| Color: | Deep green foliage with reddish-brown bark |
| Soil pH: | Acidic (<6.0) or neutral (6.0-8.0) |
| Soil Type: | Occasionally wet, good drainage with high organic matter |
| Sunlight Preference: | Full sun to partial shade |
| Hardiness Zones: | 3–7 |
| Uses: | Privacy, Hedge, Narrow Spaces, Formal Screens, Urban Backyards |
| Deer Resistant: | Generally well-tolerated by browsing wildlife |
| Blocks Noise: | Full growth habit diffuses sound waves year-round |
| Low Maintenance: | Hardy, retains shape naturally with minimal trimming |
🏷️ With over 145k trees in production, we are always in stock!
American Pillar Arborvitae combines speed, strength, and style in a compact footprint. Its slim, upright habit makes it an ideal choice for creating elegant hedges, lining driveways, or framing property edges without taking up excess space. Known for its resilience and year-round green color, it delivers reliable privacy while bringing a clean, architectural look to any landscape.
American Pillar Options and Sizing
If you're familiar with Green Giants, you know the quality and performance we stand behind. American Pillar brings much of that performance in a slim, urban-friendly package:
Choose American Pillar when you want privacy and style in a compact footprint—without sacrificing growth or durability.
The journey from here to privacy on your property is simple and easy.
Just call fill out a form and we'll call you back to take care of the details.
We deliver all over the Mid-Atlantic and beyond!
As much as we enjoy sending our trees off to their new lives hundreds of miles away, our passion is for the land here near home, and it does us great pleasure to be able to personally plant our trees on your property. We offer comprehensive installation services, including irrigation, and consulting on spacing and drainage to nearby customers. Give us a call and let's make a plan!
Rolling Fields has been in the Corrin Family since 1974. Ever since, we have taken great pride in the special care and attention we bring not only to raising our trees, but to the relationships we build with customers.
We are proud to serve Delaware, Maryland, and Southeastern Pennsylvania, and have grown further to become the Mid-Atlantic's largest supplier of arborvitae privacy screen trees.
American Pillar Arborvitae is a fast-growing, columnar evergreen designed for landscapes where space is at a premium. Its tall, narrow form delivers the privacy you need without consuming valuable yard space, making it perfect for urban lots, side yards, and formal hedges. The dense, rich-green foliage stays vibrant all year, creating a beautiful, lasting screen in just a few seasons.
Growing up to 2–3 feet per year, American Pillar establishes quickly, giving you the height you want without the width you don’t. Planted closely, it forms a seamless, upright wall of greenery that maximizes privacy while fitting comfortably into smaller footprints. For many homeowners, it’s the go-to choice where a Green Giant would be too wide.
Traditional fencing can block views but often requires landscaping to look appealing. American Pillar combines beauty and function in one living structure—providing privacy, wind protection, and a habitat for birds. Its consistent shape makes it suitable for straight-line plantings or more formal designs where uniformity is key.
The foliage of American Pillar holds its deep green color through all four seasons, ensuring your screen or hedge looks healthy and full no matter the time of year. Its dense branching provides superior close-range coverage compared to many other narrow evergreens.
Once established, American Pillar is hardy and adaptable, requiring minimal upkeep. It thrives in a variety of soil types, resists most pests and diseases, and needs little to no pruning to maintain its shape. With proper watering during the growing season, it will thrive for decades.
If you want the rapid growth and reliability of a Green Giant but need a slimmer profile, American Pillar is the ideal solution. It’s especially well-suited to tight spaces, urban gardens, and formal hedges where vertical coverage and elegance are equally important.
When space is tight but privacy is essential, American Pillar Arborvitae is unmatched. Its tall, narrow growth habit allows you to plant them closer together—perfect for slim property lines, side yards, or along driveways. In a single row, planted about 2.5–3 feet on center, they quickly form a solid, upright wall of green.
For a more layered, decorative look, consider a staggered row. Plant the back row about 3–4 feet from the front row and space trees 3–4 feet apart within each row. This layout adds depth to your screen while keeping the footprint compact—ideal for formal hedges or urban landscapes.
American Pillar isn’t just functional—it’s also a standout feature in any garden design. Its sleek, columnar form works beautifully in symmetrical plantings, flanking walkways or framing entrances. Pair it with flowering shrubs or perennials for seasonal color contrast, or use it to anchor the corners of a property for structure and definition.
Whether you’re enclosing a patio, screening a neighbor’s view, or adding height to a mixed border, American Pillar offers elegance, privacy, and a slim footprint that fits almost anywhere.
Dig a hole about three times the width of the root ball and just as deep. Keep the top of the root ball slightly above ground level, and mound soil or mulch up to cover it. This helps prevent water from pooling around the roots as the tree settles. American Pillar roots, like all arborvitae, do not tolerate soggy soil—ensure good drainage before planting. After planting, soak the root zone and surrounding soil thoroughly.
Watering Schedule (Balled & Burlapped Trees):
If heavy rainfall occurs for a week or more, you can pause watering until conditions dry.
Fertilizer is not required, but you may apply a well-balanced, slow-release fertilizer in spring and fall to encourage strong growth.
For over 13 years, Rolling Fields Tree Farm has been growing and supplying the Mid-Atlantic’s premier privacy evergreens. We built our reputation as specialists in Green Giant Arborvitae—one of the fastest-growing, most dependable screening trees available—and we still consider it our flagship variety.
Today, our nursery also offers Excelsa Arborvitae, a slightly smaller, denser alternative to Green Giant, and American Pillar Arborvitae, a tall, narrow variety perfect for tight spaces or formal hedges. This expanded selection means we can recommend the right tree for every property, from large rural landscapes to compact urban backyards.
All of our trees are propagated and grown on site, giving us complete control over quality from root to tip. We deliver throughout the eastern seaboard and offer professional planting services for local customers—including irrigation systems for larger orders.
Our team prides itself on being easy to work with, providing competitive pricing, and delivering top-quality service with every project. Whether you need a single specimen or a large-scale planting, we’ll help you choose and install trees that will thrive for years to come.
Ken Corrin
Rolling Fields Tree Farm
Hours:
Monday - Friday 8:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Phone: (443) 566-2887
