This is a "warning" post. I had planted a row of these about 4 years ago, with the intention of blocking out the neighbor behind us. Our 6 foot privacy fence, on a slope, was only about 5 feet in reality. True to their information, they do grow extremely fast and provide excellent privacy. Within 3 years they were about 15 feet tall.
Unfortunately, we spent last summer trying to exterminate them. The roots are VERY invasive. I found a root up against our above ground pool, and my pool means much more to me than privacy. I didn't need roots poking up through the vinyl liner.
The way we got rid of them was to cut them down, and then spend the entire summer applying TORDON stump killer to the shoots. There were shoots everywhere, even 15 feet up into the yard, in every direction. The drought we had last year was a blessing in disguise for us, because it helped in preventing more roots, since they like water. Tordon works fantastically in immediately killing the shoot.
So, if you like these and want to plant, I would suggest you do it out on the back 40 where it won't bother anything.
we absolutly LOVE ours .. in fact we start new trees from the 5 yr olds. They are wonderful for a wind break , we planted 2 or three rows of them along with the Blue Spruce.. LOVE them.. as someone said they can be kept under control by pruning..
In fact I prune them the first 2 yrs to keep the base more compact , making for a more solid ...»
As far as not getting advice, tree catalogs don't give any warning.