Box is not the same as privet. Buxus sempervirens (box) is a lower growing small leaved evergreen. It CAN grow to 8 feet - after about 50 years and if unpruned. Privet (Various Ligustrums) is deciduous in colder areas and has larger oval leaves. It is a very greedy feeder and will deplete the soil making it difficult if you want to have any kind of flower bed in front of it. There are lots of plants suitable for hedging without resorting to privet. And since you only want to fill a 15 ft length you would not need many plants. Viburnum tinus, Hibiscus syriacus, hollies, beech, hornbeam, yew, Escallonia, various roses, some of the Berberis, bay (if it's hardy for you) and many different conifers can all be grown as a hedge. But would you consider just going for a mixed shrub border rather than a hedge? It would be less formal but you could have a selection of evergreen and deciduous and go for shape, foliage, flowers, fragrance, berries etc as you wish. In front you could put in some perennials and bulbs. Stick in some bird feeders for the winter. The neighbours would be screened and you would be adding an attractive and interesting area to your garden which you could enjoy from your patio. It would not need the regular clipping that a hedge would require. The neighbours could enjoy it from their side and you wouldn't have to go round to their property for maintenance.

Hi Des, Not to put you off at all, but if you don't get any good answers here you may have better luck in gardenweb's "shrubs" forum. Most of the folks in this forum are focused on turfgrass, and I suspect there are more folks over there who might be familiar with that plant. FWIW I got some great advice about a privacy screen over there last year. Best, Paul

Most of the old common lilacs sucker - aren't you getting greeny new shoots around each base? My house (in fact my entire block of two houses) is hidden behind a lilac hedge that was planted in 1900. They seem to max out at 15-16 feet and the height is uniform along the whole block. I get a fair amount of suckering which gives me quite a dense screen when in full leaf - can't see out and no one can see in. I'm aware of an arborist dealing with these only once somewhere back in the 90's and that was to clear out any dead/damaged wood and some junk trees that had sprung up. In general, just performing the needful without shearing them down to a faretheewell. My family has had this property since 1972 and these lilacs have never failed to put on a spectacular show; extremely heavy blooming. They'd have to stop performing or show some kind of stress before I'd consider calling the arborists back in. They seem to thrive on benign neglect. The only maintenance I do is pick up any twiggy deadfall and cut large bouquets for any passerby who stops and asks. I really don't know what to tell you. Maybe you're going too far. When the lilacs finish blooming, you can prune the spent flowers back to the point just above where the new buds are forming. Dead or damaged stems should be cut off, and a few of the oldest stems could be cut back to the ground. Heavy pruning will result in the loss much of next years bloom, because next years flowers are formed on the plant this year.

Autumn Sunset can be grown as a big shrub. It gets wide and has no black spot,nice fragrant blooms. It is a sport of Westerland, which would also be wonderful as a back drop. Graham Thomas can also be grown as a big shrub and is healthy and a beautiful yellow. Molineux gets fairly large and is great bloomer, if you like Austin style roses. I would put shorter apricot and/or orangish roses in front of the taller yellows, maybe sunset celebration, ambridge rose, pat austin, amber queen, or some of the new Kordes roses like apricot vigorosa.