Thank you Shawn and Suzi for the tips on Thuja Green Giants and how to get shrubbery cheap. I *have* considered arborvitae, which probably would go best with the current look of the house, and are fast-growing. bmh4796, I looked up English Laurel, and it's handsome and a fast grower, but aren't the leaves toxic? Maybe I could plant a line of arborvitae and then add some more colorful or interesting plants at their bases? Anyway, because I had them and didn't know what else to do with them, I put some 4 inch lilacs in the ground already, and a 2 day cold snap promptly blackened their leaves. Undaunted, I stuck a white Beauty of Moscow on the corner next to the twin trees, hopefully far enough behind the hydrant to not run into trouble. I don't know what I'm doing here... hope it doesn't look too weird. The more I consider, it seems like I need to come up with an overall plan for the house instead of just buying plants I like and poking them in here and there. I suppose the tiny lilacs will stay there until I find a sale on Thuja, or save up enough for a stone wall. I'm afraid that whole area is probably solid rock underneath. There are a couple of large (2 foot long) outcroppings of stone that look like they extend underground. Wish I could show you but I still can't find my camera!

I too am uncertain about the length. I also agree that ramblers are perfect for fences, if you are willing to invest the time to train them to keep them under control. I know from experience that the wichuriana ramblers are wonderful one time bloomers and have great foliage. I have a Francois Juranville that grows 60 feet (30' in each direction). However, it obliterated the fence by the third season and must be severely prunned to keep it in bounds. Alberic Barbier can be equally vigorous as well as Aviateur Bleriot, Gardenia and a host of other ramblers. One downside is that they only bloom once. The rest of the time they are just pretty, green, fast growing, lax, disease resistant canes (in my climate). City of York is a gorgeous semidouble white climber that could be lashed to a 4' fence. It is not quite as vigorous as the wichurianas, but can easily attain 25 to 30 horizontal feet. Absolutely clean foliage in our dank climate! Cornelia is more modest in growth and can be trained horizontally. It, of course, reblooms, needs spraying, and you will probably only get 10 to 15 horizontal feet out of 1 plant. Lavender Lassie, Daybreak and Moonlight might also be strapped to a fence and give you again about 10 to 15 horizontal feet. All need spraying for fungus in my climate to have maximum foliage. Belinda wants to be a 6' X 6' shrub for me. Best, Nick

First thanks for all the replies. I will google mentioned fence types to get a better idea. Keep the kid in the back yard is one of the but not the only reason for the fence/hedge. Our daughter actually is not an adventure type - so even if we have a row of small tree and tell her to stay inside, she will do so. BUT with an enclosed fence, it is more a peace of mind to say maybe we can leave her alone in the backyard while we hop between in house and out. We also want some privacy - there are 3 houses on the south side of the road plus the passed cars. We also thought about put a fence and then grow some vine (like Ivy) to climb on the fence - but read about the fence will soon be deteriorated by the plant. The lot is not large - it's only about 0.3 acre. So an informal hedge might not feasible plus an informal hedge looks unmaintained if did not planned right. >>What kind of trees are they? Honestly I do not know. I only know the tree on the top left(North west) corner is an evergreen tree, others are deciduous. They are many years trees and very tall >>Do you like the look of less formal hedges that are made up of a variety of different species? Thought about that too, but... reason see above >>Would you consider a picket fence or other open, decorative fence rather than the solid gray boring wall you might be considering? Since privacy also a consideration, we need to plant tree beside the open fence too. So cost is also a factor to consider >>What direction is north? Top side is north >>Ignoring the kid, what would you do? Still want to put up a fence or tree hedge for privacy, more like tree hedge want more green around >>In the long run a hedge is not practical You mean it will become a duty you might hated to keep the hedge looking good? Unless you enjoy doing it? >>In time, it would become a huge, boring green 'wall' that would hide the house. Hah, I never thought about that. I would not think it will hide the house though, it won't be that huge, will it? >>Fence line A would not be a good choice because it will 'enclose' the house and make it look prison-like. You want the beauty of the home, and not the fence itself, to be the most important prominent visual element I honestly did not think about that, (enclose the house), it is a good point though. But on another hand, I did not think the side view of our house is that pretty (maybe I need to start appreciated it from now on) and I wanted more acre in my (now fenced) backyard so that I can put more craps in there :) >>Because you are on a corner lot, I think the south and southeast corners should be more open and inviting than a tall fence/hedge line would allow good point here too. And I think that's the reason the lot 3 did not have any fence on the south and west side. But that's the only property that does not have fence, all others (lot 4, 5, 6 (to the right side of 5) and my north neighbor) have fenced yard >>Just enclose the upper lefthand quadrant as a play area for your child. That would not work as it is too small, we need the whole back yard to throw balls and to run What the choices of trees for a hedge/ as plants for a boundary - I am not very good at tree names, I saw a lot property with nice tree hedges but never cared to know what kind of trees that they are using. From aesthetics perspective, we think hedge would be much better. But not sure about from cost and improve the property value perspective, which one is the winner. Again, thanks a lot

My beast grew untamed for 13 years. I always thought it was a good shield between the house and the dirt road. It reached 30 feet high and 15 feet wide. It's only saving grace was obscuring the view and catching some of the dust from the road. It finally started to encroach on the driveway and the wife complained daily that it was an eyesore and needed to be trimmed. My brother and I went at it with a machete, an axe and a chainsaw. It took us two days to get it to this. Still ugly and as I looked down the years to come was going to be a pain in the butt to maintain. We also had a clump of bamboo that was getting out of control and at my wife's urging we hired a backhoe to rip out the hedge and the bamboo. Best damn decision I've ever...my wife ever, made me decide. The root systems are not extensive even for a 30 foot laurel. It only took 45 minutes to rip out 18 of these bad boys. It's been three years and this is what the area looks like today. It will take a few more years for the rhodies to grow up and partially block the view from the road and I really don't notice dust. Everyday I drive up to our place I'm greeted by this nice view and my wife is very happy.