I am a fan of forsythia for what you want. I love the spring color and then the bush can be pruned to shape as needed. I cannot stand what the idiot next door has done, so I planted a long row of forsythia. It has been about 4 years and I don't see his mess now. You can let them get thick or you can thin them. They can grow up or be arching. Deer don't bother them and they are tough.

Well, there are many nice Viburnum varieties to choose from, but some of those can get quite large. We use a lot of Alpine Currant (Ribes Alpinum) for hedging here in Minnesota. Hardy to zone 2 and not frost tender. Clay soil and semi shade are okay. I have a clipped alpine currant hedge along a portico that I keep at about 4 1/2'. But also have a few scattered here and there that are unclipped and left to their own devices - look pretty good unchecked, too. Ninebark (Physocarpus) is a good shrub. I have a couple of "Dart's Gold" that I picked up on the cheap at Home Depot late last sesason and they really started to leaf out nicely about 10 days ago. Would like to add a "Diablo" somewhere. Ninebark is adaptable to all kinds of conditions.

That's a beautiful setting. Are you going to grow roses on your arbors? For me privet is a weed..comes up everywhere and gets as tall as a small tree. I am not winning the war against weeds here but just have to do battle with them. You can always use a weedeater. But a fence seems to me an invitation for grass and weeds to grow up next to it. One more expensive possibility would be to build a low rock or brick wall instead of a fence. You could clear out the grass and weeds on the inside, and either not worry about the other side or weedeater around it. It seems like a choice between growing things you want along your wire fence or neatness. Not sure you can get neatness and the plants too without a lot of weeding. I don't know if I'd want to try to keep the outside of the garden neat. Hmm..maybe on the outside of the fence you could put some rocks flat on the ground with some spaces between them. PLant what you want in the spaces. You'd still have to weed but maybe less. Another possibility...make a REALLY low brick or rock wall, then have your wire fence above that. Hand weed on the inside, weedeater on the outside. That would be a major undertaking of course but you could do it gradually. Especially if you have suitable rocks on your property. A commercial edging might serve the same purpose. If I were you I'd concentrate on the garden within your enclosure and let the outside be natural. Linda

Thanks for the kind comments, Marie! Here are a few photos, splaker. I hope that this helps you with your project. Before I started this project in fall 2009, I think, I tried to web search mixed shrub borders and didn't find much that inspired me. But I knew I had seen in person similar things planted various places, so I had some ideas in mind and then just winged it. My goals were to block or distract from some of the sightlines to a work area from the main entrance drive. We had just cleared a wooded area to have more sun, so I was starting from a blank slate. I knew I wanted a mix of evergreens (for winter interest) and deciduous shrubs, vines and perennials for colorful and contrasting foliage and flowers. I know I have more space than the typical suburban yard, but something similar to this could be done on a scaled down basis. June of 2010 after planting fall 2009. 3 kinds of evergreens (2 or 3 of each randomly spread down the bed length - Thuja 'Sunkist', Thuja 'Techny' and a slower growing cultivar of blue spruce that I will probably eventually have to remove due to large size or budworm damage), a few small pagoda dogwoods, a couple of Hydrangea paniculata (Quickfire and Pinky Winky), a Coppertina Ninebark, two Spicebush (Lindera benzoin), a few rhodies, some winterberry holly, and a few perennials. Before planting, I laid down a bunch of composted manure. After planting the various shrubs, I mulched heavily for moisture and weed control, first putting down cardboard and then about 6" of loose mulch that packed down to 4" or so. Perennials were planted around the edges after the main shrubs were in by cutting through the cardboard. I tried to leave enough room between the evergreens and shrubs to allow them to grow to just grow together overtime, but not be super crowded, so it was rather sparse the first year or two. I didn't do formal plans, but knew the ballpark size of the mature shrubs and the bed size, and once I bought the plants, I plopped them down in the bed and moved them around until I liked the layout, and then got out the shovel. I didn't pick out specific varieties ahead of time, but went around to local nurseries during fall sales knowing that I wanted rhodies, varied colored medium evergreens, etc. and chose from what they had available (that met my needs) to keep expenses down. Looking east from the middle Looking NE from the SW side (June 2010) In December of 2010 after one full growing season looking west from the dirt pile just visible on the right (east) side of the photo above After 4 growing seasons with some added perennials but not much in the way of added shrubs it is fairly full. Late October 2013 June 2014 looking East along the front of the bed. Looking down the back side as fall color is just beginning to develop - no perennials since this is the work area side. Here's a photo in taken late November 2014 that was from a similar angle to the second photo at the top. There have been a few plants over the years that haven't worked out due mostly to the voles that are a curse of my gardening existence, but for the most part I am quite happy with the bed. It's at my husband's shop so I don't get down to it as regularly as I might wish, but it doesn't need more than a few of hours of weeding per season and some tidying up and cutting back in the fall as long as I keep the mulch in good shape. I add more mulch every couple of years where there is space between plants. I've also added edging, a combination of the rolled edge black plastic edging from a big box store and recycled bricks lining the inside edge of the plastic (visible 2 and 3 photos up) to run the lawn mower wheels on so no edge whacking needed. Also, a couple of comments on some plants mentioned in previous comments. I have 3 Viburnum plicatums, one of which is about as old as the bed above and might be mariesiii but might be another selection. They bloom well every year (we got to -22 last winter and near that most winters) so you should be OK unless you get a whole lot colder than that. They all have great fall color. Burning bushes can seed around to wild areas, so I wouldn't recommend them for that reason, but they are also boring green blobs most of the year. Blueberries are a good replacement if you have acid soil with spring flowers, summer berries for you or the birds, and nice red to maroon autumn color. I ripped out my one Viburnum 'Blue Muffin' because it didn't bloom well, had no fall color in my garden, and was infested with Viburnum beetle. There are quite a number of medium sized/slower growing Thuja cultivars that won't get giant (as well as other conifers that you could check out on the conifer forum.) I found 3 Thuja types in good sizes in local nurseries in my quite rural area, so you have a good chance of finding some. If you have a lot of deer they may not be a good choice unless you want to spray them in winter. We have deer, but are rural enough that they don't bother the gardens for the most part. I really like the various variegated shrub dogwoods and the size of the larger ones will work well for you. Coppertina is has been a great shrub for me, but if they are prone to mildew in your area, there are others that are less mildew prone in tests. I'd love to hear how your project works out!