ᐅ Arborvitae are gradually dying off.

Are only the thuja affected, or are other plants dying as well?
I suspect care mistakes: too little water or waterlogging, too much or too little fertilizer.

Thuja is for cemeteries 😉 not yew.

motorradsilke schrieb:

Only the privet is somewhat evergreen.
The rest are therefore not alternatives.

What do you mean by evergreen? For example, the beech tree also remains relatively dense in winter, as it drops its leaves only shortly before new growth in spring. It therefore always provides good privacy screening, although the leaves turn brown.

Ligustrum Atrovirens works similarly in that regard. To be honest, Thuja makes me quite uneasy as well.

All of them are toxic to some degree anyway. Hedges are not meant to be eaten.

Bookstar schrieb:

What do you mean by evergreen? For example, the European beech is fairly dense even in winter because the leaves only fall shortly before new growth in spring. So it always provides good privacy screening, although the leaves turn brown.

Well, evergreen means just that, as the name says. I want privacy screening on the one hand, but on the other hand, I don’t want to look at brown leaves or bare branches. So I want greenery in the garden during autumn and winter as well.

tomtom79 schrieb:

It's surprising how many people dislike thuja, same with cherry laurel. I'd rather have a green hedge than a fence.

You’re right. But thuja is often used for cemetery plantings… Some development plans or design guidelines prohibit them because they create a lot of shade on the other side and can grow quite large if not regularly trimmed – which doesn’t suit most compact plots in new housing developments. Older townhouse and single-family home lots now suffer from the older thuja trees. As a result, a tractor is sometimes needed to remove these massive trees.
They consume a huge amount of water since they are not originally native to Europe, so they’re not ideally suited here.
Of course, we know hedges shouldn’t be eaten, but try telling that to the animals affected by pruning, which people don’t clear away afterward.
Also, where there is shade, there is also shadow: the dense foliage prevents light from reaching the other side. This results in struggling perennial beds behind or moss-covered lawns. Additionally, dense hedges can encourage property crime.
Ideally, a more open planting or occasionally deciduous shrubs are used to allow light to balance out.

Schimi1791 schrieb:

We were told elsewhere that they need to be planted one meter (3 feet) away from the boundary.

… because the distance relates to the height of the plants.

I suspect the soil is too alkaline. To my knowledge, these plants need Epsom salt.
Perhaps the wrong fertilizer was used when planting? The greenery does persist for a while. Yes, and then there’s the huge water demand. We’re not talking about watering for 10 seconds...

Ultimately, everyone has to decide for themselves what to plant in their garden. My opinion is that a garden area is better than no garden at all.