How Much Does Arborvitae Cost?

Last updated on April 30, 2026 | Written by Alec Pow
This article was researched using 6 sources. See our methodology and corrections policy.

TLDR: A single arborvitae runs $70 to $500 for plant-only stock and $240 to $1,200 installed, and the variety you choose plus the spacing you plant at will determine your total project cost far more than any single sticker price.

• Entry plant-only price: $69 to $95 for a #5 or #7 container Green Giant, per Aspinall’s 2026 retail catalog
• Mid-range plant-only: $140 to $300 for 5-foot to 12-foot Green Giant field stock, per Goodmark Nurseries April 2026 availability list
• Installed Emerald Green: $240 to $900 per tree (5 ft to 12 ft), per Miller’s Nursery installed price list
• Installed Green Giant: $300 to $1,200 per tree (5 ft to 14 ft), per Miller’s Nursery
• A 100-foot Green Giant screen at 5-foot spacing requires about 21 trees, per Nature Hills spacing guide

Arborvitae pricing splits into two separate markets: nursery plant-only stock and full installation. Buyers who compare prices without separating these two will consistently underestimate project cost. The per-tree price is only one input. Spacing requirements, variety choice, and finished height all compound into the final number.

What you’re actually buying

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Arborvitae is a group of evergreen conifers in the genus Thuja, grown almost exclusively for their dense, columnar or pyramidal form. In a residential or commercial context, buyers purchase them to create a living privacy screen, a windbreak, or a year-round green border. The two varieties that dominate the market are Emerald Green (Thuja occidentalis ‘Smaragd’) and Green Giant (Thuja standishii x plicata ‘Green Giant’), and they serve different site conditions.

Emerald Green stays narrow, reaching 10 to 15 feet at maturity with a spread of 3 to 4 feet, which makes it appropriate for tight side yards and close-to-structure planting. Green Giant grows much faster and much larger, reaching 40 to 60 feet tall with a spread of 12 to 18 feet, according to Kiefer Nursery’s Green Giant product page. That size difference is not just a horticultural detail. It changes how many trees a buyer needs, how far apart they plant them, and how long the hedge takes to close in.

Arborvitae is not a shrub, not an ornamental accent plant, and not a fast substitute for a fence in every context. Buyers who choose the wrong variety for their site often end up replanting or thinning within a decade.

Price by variety and height

The table below shows plant-only and installed prices from current 2026 nursery sources. Plant-only prices reflect what a buyer pays to take a tree home without delivery or labor. Installed prices from Miller’s Nursery include placement and are the best available benchmark for a professional installation quote.

Arborvitae price by height and purchase type, 2026

Height / Size	Green Giant (plant-only)	Green Giant (installed)	Emerald Green (installed)
#5 / #7 container	$69–$95 (equivalent to 3.2 hours at $30 per hour, or about $38 in 1990 dollars)	n/a	n/a
5 ft	$140–$159	$300	$240
6 ft	$160–$199	$360	$290
7 ft	$190–$259	$420	$380
8 ft	$220–$399	$480	$450
12 ft	$300	$1,000	$900
14 ft	n/a	$1,200	n/a

Sources: Goodmark Nurseries April 2026 availability, Aspinall’s 2026 catalog, and Miller’s Nursery installed list. Installed prices reflect one nursery’s market and will vary by region and contractor.

Three real purchase scenarios

Budget: Small-yard Emerald Green, plant-only. A homeowner in a mid-Atlantic suburb wants to screen a 30-foot fence line. At 3-foot spacing, that run needs about 11 trees. Buying 5-foot Emerald Green plant-only stock at roughly $159 (about $64 in 1990 dollars) each (Aspinall’s 2026 pricing) puts the plant cost at $1,749 before delivery. The buyer installs them personally over a weekend.

Typical: Green Giant installed screen, suburban property. A buyer in the Midwest wants a 60-foot privacy wall along a rear property line and hires a nursery to install 7-foot Green Giants at 8-foot spacing. That spacing requires 8 trees. At Miller’s installed rate of $420 per tree, the project total is $3,360 before any soil amendment or mulch.

High: Large-specimen Green Giant installation. A property owner in a mid-Atlantic or Southeast market wants immediate visual privacy and orders 12-foot Green Giants installed at 10-foot spacing across a 100-foot rear boundary. At 10-foot spacing that is 11 trees. At Miller’s installed rate of $1,000 per tree, the tree-and-labor bill reaches $11,000 before delivery surcharges or site preparation.

What drives the per-tree price up or down

Height is the single biggest variable. A 5-foot Green Giant costs $140 (about $56 in 1990 dollars) plant-only at Goodmark Nurseries in spring 2026, while a 12-foot specimen from the same nursery runs $300, more than double. At Miller’s Nursery installed rates, that same size jump goes from $300 to $1,000 per tree. The installation labor, equipment, and root-ball weight all scale with height, which is why the installed markup is proportionally larger for taller trees.

Container size also affects plant-only pricing. A Green Giant in a #5 container costs $69 at Aspinall’s Tree Nursery, while the same variety in a #7 container runs $95, and a 4-foot field-grown specimen reaches $119. Buyers who can wait for smaller stock to establish can cut per-tree cost by 40 to 50 percent compared to larger field-grown trees.

Green Giant vs Emerald Green

Per-tree price comparisons between these two varieties can mislead buyers. The more useful number is cost per linear foot of finished screen. Nature Hills estimates that a 100-foot Green Giant screen at 5-foot spacing needs about 21 trees, while a 100-foot Emerald Green screen at 3-foot spacing needs 34 trees, per their privacy tree spacing guide.

Using 5-foot plant-only stock as a baseline: 21 Green Giants at Goodmark’s $140 each comes to $2,940 for 100 feet, or about $29.40 per linear foot. At Miller’s installed rate of $300 each, those same 21 Green Giants come to $6,300, or $63 per linear foot. By contrast, 34 Emerald Greens at Miller’s installed rate of $240 each comes to $8,160 for the same 100-foot run, or $81.60 per linear foot. The Emerald Green screen costs more per linear foot installed, even though each individual tree is cheaper, because the spacing requirement raises the tree count by 62 percent.

Green Giant also reaches screening height faster. Kiefer Nursery describes the variety as a fast grower that can reach 40 to 60 feet at maturity, making it the more cost-efficient choice for large open properties where mature width is not a constraint.

Hidden costs that inflate the total

Delivery charges are rarely included in nursery sticker prices and can add $50 to $300 or more depending on distance and order size. A buyer purchasing 20 trees from a regional nursery 50 miles away will face a delivery fee that is not visible on the price list.

You might also like our articles about the cost of an oak tree, a lemon tree, or a pine tree.

Soil amendment and mulch are standard for arborvitae planting but are not itemized in most installed quotes. A single tree planting requires 2 to 3 cubic feet of compost and a ring of mulch. Across a 20-tree installation, that can add $200 to $600 to the project.

Warranties vary by nursery. Some installers offer a one-season replacement guarantee; others offer none. A buyer paying $1,000 per tree for 12-foot Green Giants should ask explicitly whether the warranty covers establishment loss, which is the most common failure mode in the first growing season.

Irrigation is a separate cost that buyers on sandy or fast-draining soils should budget for. Drip irrigation for a 100-foot hedge row can run $500 to $1,500 installed, depending on the system and existing water access. Arborvitae are moderately drought-tolerant once established, but new plantings need consistent moisture for the first two seasons.

Worked example

A buyer wants to screen an 80-foot rear property line using 6-foot Green Giants, installed by a nursery. Using Kiefer Nursery’s spacing recommendation of 7 to 10 feet for screens, the buyer chooses 8-foot spacing. That requires 11 trees for an 80-foot run (80 divided by 8, plus one end tree).

• 11 trees at Miller’s installed rate of $360 each for 6-foot Green Giant: $3,960
• Delivery estimate (regional, 11 trees): $200
• Mulch and soil amendment for 11 planting holes: $300
• Total estimated project cost: $4,460
• Cost per linear foot of screen: $55.75

If the same buyer chose 8-foot Emerald Green at Miller’s installed rate of $450 per tree and planted at 4-foot spacing, the run would need 21 trees. At $450 each, the tree-and-labor line alone reaches $9,450, more than double the Green Giant option for the same 80-foot run. The Emerald Green screen would be narrower at maturity and better suited to a tight side yard, but for an open rear boundary, the Green Giant is the more cost-efficient choice by a wide margin.

Paying for larger specimens

Buying a 5-foot arborvitae instead of an 8-foot specimen can cut the per-tree installed cost by $120 to $180 at Miller’s rates. On a 20-tree order, that saves $2,400 to $3,600. The tradeoff is time: smaller trees take two to four growing seasons longer to close a privacy gap. For a buyer who is not planning to sell the property and can wait, smaller stock is a rational cost decision.

Larger specimens make sense when the privacy need is immediate, when the property is going on the market within two years, or when the planting is replacing a failed screen that left the yard exposed. A buyer paying $1,200 per tree for 14-foot Green Giants is paying for years of nursery growing time they do not have to wait out themselves. That premium is defensible in specific contexts and wasteful in others.

“Arborvitae are among the most popular evergreens used when planting a hedge,” according to the Arbor Day Foundation’s privacy hedge planting guide, which also notes that hedge establishment can take a couple of growing seasons regardless of starting size.

Who this cost makes sense for

Makes sense if:

• You need a year-round privacy screen and want a lower long-run maintenance cost than a wood fence
• Your site has enough width to accommodate Green Giant’s 12-to-18-foot mature spread
• You can plant at the correct spacing from the start and avoid replanting costs later
• You are buying plant-only stock and have the equipment and time to install correctly
• You are screening a run of 50 feet or more, where per-linear-foot cost becomes competitive with fencing

Doesn’t make sense if:

• Your side yard is under 4 feet wide and cannot accommodate even Emerald Green at maturity
• You need a privacy solution within weeks rather than one to two growing seasons
• Your soil is heavily compacted or waterlogged without drainage correction, which arborvitae do not tolerate
• You are comparing installed arborvitae cost to a vinyl fence on a tight budget for a short run

Verification

• Confirmed installed prices for Emerald Green and Green Giant arborvitae by height at Miller’s Nursery February 2026 price list, which explicitly labels prices as installed.
• Cross-referenced plant-only Green Giant prices across three independent nursery sources: Goodmark Nurseries April 2026, Aspinall’s Tree Nursery 2026 catalog, and Kiefer Nursery product page.
• Checked spacing guidance against both Kiefer Nursery (7 to 10 feet for screens) and the Arbor Day Foundation privacy hedge guide (3 feet minimum for American arborvitae).
• Confirmed tree-count math for 100-foot hedge runs using Nature Hills spacing estimates: 21 Green Giants at 5-foot spacing, 34 Emerald Greens at 3-foot spacing.
• Verified that the University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension arborvitae fact sheet supports row planting for privacy as a standard horticultural practice.

Takeaways

• Plant-only arborvitae runs $69 to $500 per tree in 2026 depending on variety, container size, and height; installed prices start at $240 and reach $1,200 for large specimens.
• Green Giant is cheaper per linear foot of installed screen than Emerald Green on runs of 60 feet or more because its wider spacing requires fewer trees.
• Spacing choice is the hidden cost multiplier: a 100-foot Emerald Green screen at 3-foot spacing needs 34 trees, while a Green Giant screen at 5-foot spacing needs only 21.
• Buying smaller stock (5-foot vs 8-foot) can save $2,400 to $3,600 on a 20-tree order, but adds two to four growing seasons before the screen closes.
• Delivery, soil amendment, mulch, and irrigation are real line items that routinely add $500 to $2,000 to a project that looks cheaper on the nursery price list.
• Ask any installer whether the warranty covers establishment loss, especially on large-specimen orders where a single dead tree represents $1,000 or more in sunk cost.

Frequently asked questions

What is the cheapest way to plant a 100-foot arborvitae screen?

Buying small container stock, such as #5 or #7 Green Giants at $69 to $95 each from Aspinall’s Tree Nursery, and self-installing is the lowest-cost approach. At 5-foot spacing, 21 trees for a 100-foot run would cost roughly $1,450 to $2,000 in plant-only material, compared to $6,300 or more for the same run installed with 5-foot specimens. The tradeoff is that small container trees take longer to establish screening height.

How many arborvitae do I need for a 50-foot privacy hedge?

For a 50-foot Green Giant screen at 5-foot spacing, you need approximately 11 trees. For a 50-foot Emerald Green screen at 3-foot spacing, you need approximately 17 trees. The wider spacing of Green Giant reduces the tree count and total project cost for the same linear footage.

Is it cheaper to buy arborvitae online or from a local nursery?

Online retailers like FastGrowingTrees.com and Nature Hills often offer lower per-tree plant-only prices than local nurseries, but shipping costs for large trees can offset the savings. Local nurseries offer installed pricing that includes labor and site-specific expertise. For small orders or plant-only purchases, online may be cheaper. For installed projects, local nurseries are often more cost-effective because they avoid freight surcharges.

Do arborvitae prices change by season?

Yes. Spring and early summer are peak planting seasons, and nurseries often raise prices during these months. Fall pricing is lower, and winter pricing drops further because demand falls. Buying in late fall or early spring before peak season can save 10 to 15 percent on plant-only stock. Installed pricing is less seasonal because labor costs remain stable year-round.

What is the difference between plant-only and installed arborvitae pricing?

Plant-only pricing is what you pay for the tree alone, ranging from $69 to $500 depending on size and variety. Installed pricing includes the tree, delivery, labor, and site preparation, and ranges from $240 to $1,200 per tree. Installed pricing runs 3 to 5 times higher than plant-only pricing for the same specimen size because it covers professional placement, root-ball handling, and initial mulching.