as to the immediacy of the window.. look into window films... i put one of the classic wisteria stained glass ... in the center of a rather large window ... so i can get more light by more fully opening the drapes ... but more privacy with them half shut ... in doing this.. then you can work with more time.. as to planting something in the yard.. to eventually grow to do the same thing ... a pic of your area.. would help peeps like me.. who cant work on words alone ... especially if you took one pic from upstairs.. down into the area ... ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

Semiarundinaria is quite vertical. There are many unconfined plantings of it in the area, that have not spread all over - this is true of other species used here also, the outcome varies with the situation. But any running bamboo can suddenly start coming up yards away from the mother clump, making the installation of barrier essential where such an occurrence would be a problem. All the full height Thuja occidentalis cultvars have approximately the same vigor. The 'Smaragd' will be so much more prevalent than the others because it is what people are looking for. The only problem with it is it is more prone to poor soil drainage than most others, resulting in frequent internet questions about part of a hedge of it going brown. I have also seen it browned in sections by mites during hot weather. But this latter development is probably not especially peculiar to 'Smaragd'. 'Oregon Blue' is merely an otherwise more or less typical Chamaecyparis lawsoniana with a saturated blue coloration. The vigor of some local specimens suggests these are programmed to grow into towering trees just like thousands of other examples of the species in local plantings. In the wild the species is interesting for growing just about everywhere within the comparatively small range it occupies, unlike many other wild tree species now confined to small ranges - and also being limited to specific site conditions within those ranges. So no, there is no particular soil moisture regime etc. that must be provided for it - numerous other cultivars of C. lawsoniana are still all over the place on local properties, despite the inroads of several different root pathogens in later times. The main thing is to place it in soil that drains well - and is not or does not become infested with one of the water molds that kills even specimens that have been in place for decades.

Have you thought of trying Ceanothus thyrsiflorus? This small tree might not get as tall as you want, but can easily grow to 20ft. It grows fairly quickly and has wonderful blue flowers. This plant is a native to coastal Southern Oregon, but can take quite a bit of cold so it might do well for you. I can't imagine them being very expensive either. Ligustrum lucidum is another fairly fast broadleaf evergeen that works well as a natural or formal hedge. It does much better in Southern Oregon than in the Seattle area for some reason. Here is a picture of a Ligustrum lucidum a couple of hundred yards from my house. It was cut down this year unfortunately. Here is a link that might be useful: Ceanothus thyrsiflorus

You can still plant, but do it quickly. If you are in northern VA or another area that sometimes gets decent amounts of snow, the Leyland cypress is one to dust off before you end up with broken branches. Don't have Arborvitae, so can't speak to that. Try going to the trees forum or conifer forum and do a search on evergreen hedges. You will find lots of threads discussing them!