Should I plant this in the ground?

Robmarston

Pics below :  worried that this might get huge and wide and suck all the nutrients out of the ground. If I do plant it, how wide would it get and how close could I expect things to be able to grow reasonably well? It’s in a pot at the moment and has been for 2 years or so. Would it be a mistake to plant it 2-3 metres from the house? 
Thanks 

Rubytoo

I would make it a little further away. But this depends on what it is?
Do you have a name or know which cultivar it is exactly?
Is it supposed to be a slow growing or smaller type of conifer?
If you do not know or cannot find out, I would plant it further away if you don't want to be digging it up in a few years time.

Some dear friends bought a (supposedly) slow growing one that they dug out maybe ten years later when it was snuggling up to the house. 

I do like the way the cones are nestled in there.

Robmarston

It’s a lovely conifer. I don’t know what type it is but it’s supposed to be slim but it has grown about 2ft since I had it. 

Lizzie27

Looks like you've got a big garden so I would plant it much further away from the house so it provides a stunning focal point (especially in the winter) from the windows of the house. That way you will avoid any problems with foundations and/or growing much too tall and near to the house.   

Rubytoo

As Lizzie said it would make a stunning focal point.
It does as you say look a slim type. It may well stay narrow relative to the height, but still get too wide in later years.
If you can move the pot and stand it at the 2 and 3 metres point. Stand back and  visualize it, even if it does not spread much in circumference.
Take this one as an example?
Although it may not be your exact one. The description.  6m tall  (20 feet)
1.5 wide (5 feet). Guessing that is the usual after ten years often quoted.

https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/thuja-occidentalis-degroots-spire/tka3604TM

I am now looking them up all over the place for something like yours as I like it

Robmarston

We got it reduced in late winter for 20 quid. I don’t think the link you put up is the same plant to be honest. The leaves on mine seem ‘fluffier’ if that makes sense. I’d love to do something with it but it is taking some thinking about. 

Rubytoo

Sorry i did say not the same, just a similar kind of thing that makes quite a large plant if you were thinking of planting it 5 feet away,  the link one attained 5 wide.
Yours has grown two feet taller since you got it, though not much wider. But out of the pot in a few years yours might attain similar.
Sorry for any confusion.

Good Luck, I buy things then often they sit in a pot get moved around and have to be repotted as I can't decide where to put them.

Robmarston

That’s exactly what I’ve been doing 😃 One of the benefits of pots although even when I plant them I’m not absolutely sure it’s in the right place. I’m thinking about what you said though, and maybe moving it further away from the house as a feature somewhere else. 

Paul B3

The cones indicated to me a Chamaecyparis lawsoniana cultivar ; probably the narrower form known as 'Columnaris' . It shouldn't get a lot wider , but with an average growth rate of around 8" - 10" per year , it soon makes a striking addition to any garden .

Not too close to your property though .

Full sunshine and loads of water will maintain the colour well .

Robmarston

Thank you Paul. 👍😊