Blue Prince/Princess are wonderful plants. I have them in a southern exposure hedge but they have a bit of summer protection from a lot of the sun due to Red, Sugar, and Japanese maples. I think they would be okay in full sun in zone 6 however.

Do you have deer? Even one? They love Blue Princess--and Prince--as well as yews and others you mentioned. Hope you are lucky enough to be without deer.

I don't have deer and I have a 'Prince' that looks great as a foundation plant, facing East, so morning sun. I also have a 'Princess' under the drip line of a Maple that gets only small amounts of sun. Both of them do really well. I was just noticing yesterday that the Prince is having a banner year. I tip pruned it for a couple of years in a row and it is filling in nicely and I've finally got the shape where I want it. They are such easy care plants with no pests that I've seen, grow well in clay soil and are very handsome. I rescued a poor bedraggled 6ft tall 'Princess' from a nursery clearance center originally $99. marked down to $30 two years ago. Wow, was it ugly. It was balled and burlapped and when I got it home and went to plant it, half the root ball felt like cement. This spring, it finally started filling in but it will be another couple of years before it looks anywhere near as good as my 'Prince'. It's amazing to me how it withstood whatever poor treatment and conditions it received to get into this condition and is coming through with flying colors. I just gave it a ring of alfalfa pellets this spring and it is already responding to it. I would say it is a valuable addition to a garden.

Thanks for the feedback. How tall will blue princess get? You guys think of any other ideas?

I also have Taxus Hicksii that you mentioned. It is slow growing but I have high hopes. What about Buxus 'Green Mountain'? It is supposed to finish up about 5ft tall by 3ft wide. I bought a couple of small ones and they are growing a good amount every year. It will be awhile before they get close to that 5ft height but that suits me. You can buy them larger. Not sure that would really be much of a screen though. Have you considered Arborvitae?

Blue Princess....10-15ft

Thinking of going with a combination of blue princess and arborvitae if I can find the proper variety. Looking for a wider, shorter version than the typical. Any more ideas?

Cbass, not taking the time to re-read the thread, I just want to mention that you know you need a 'prince' holly to pollinate the princess for berries, right? It also takes hollies a moderate amount of time to grow. I know the larger s*hrubs are more expensive at the nursery, but you might wait for a 25% off sale to get them and get the largest one you can afford. If you really have the time, you could wait for the Fall for the 50% off sale, but you can't be guaranteed there will still be some left.

Arborvitaes...I bought two of them. An 'Emerald Green' and a western Arborvitae that I think is Thuja plicata. I had to replace the plicata after the first year because the winter was so bad and the spring weather was odd, that the whole p*lant browned and died. That was the nursery's explanation of what happened. I did replace it with the same thing and made it through that first winter because I was determined to have one in that location. We did use burlap the first year to help it out after having trouble with the first one. Not sure if that is what helped, but it made it through and looks very good right now. I like the plicata better than the Emerald Green, but they are both very young and that could change. I like the natural shape of the plicata. I am not that confident though that arborvitaes will last in the long run. I've heard complaints about them splitting from snow weight and I've already had the problem of browning, which I guess is fairly common for some reason. But I have shade and a Yew is the best choice but too slow, so I am giving it a try. It is not a sure thing just so you understand. I plan on being careful to keep heavy snow off of it, I have a single leader on the plicata which helps, and I may even burlap it in the winters for more certainty. A lot more trouble than other choices I've made in the g*arden.

Hemlocks are another choice in shade, but have pest issues I don't want.

I wonder if you have looked up any other threads on s*hrubs for screening? There are LOTS of threads on the subject with lots of variations. I notice that there is not always a lot of responses. The one below had a fair amount. I think privacy screening is problematic for most people. I have been trying for 5 years to screen out my neighbor and wasn't happy with my solutions twice now so I am still working on it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mixed evergreen screen recommendations?