It's too bad they put that sidewalk essentially right through your front yard. It creates a very small planting area, especially when you consider that any bushes really need to be planted 3-4 feet away from the house. You might try something like a forsythia which will get big quickly, is easy to get (just get a baby from one of your neighbors), can be cut down very vigorously and ruthlessly, will look pretty from early spring on , but is just bare branches in the winter. Again, not evergreen, but maybe some lilacs, instead? I like the size and form of my Donald Wyman lilac and could see it in front of the single shuttered window. The form of the lilac, though bare branches in the winter, is prettier than some. A winterberry might work really well there, actually, if the area is not too dry. And even possibly, blueberry bushes...although passers-by might eat from them! For evergreen, you could try rhodies or azaleas. As to conifers, I'm sure there are many featherly, light alternatives, I don't know what they might be, though.

I totally agree with MBright - I was going to suggest mock orange, lilac, pheasantberry (leycesteria), ninebark (physocarpus), elderberries (sambucus)... and other tall arching but deciduous shrubs. If you totally want evergreen I'd also suggest mixing in some of the tall coniferous varieties - upright junipers, thujas, or maybe hemlocks, and others of the types used for hedging. My preference is for a mixed, layered approach rather than a hedge, but if a hedge works for you, why not use that? For seasonal coverage, don't discount the value of tall perennials. If you can grow things like delphiniums, cimicifugas (name change to actea), Kiregeshoma koreana, thalictrums, and others that are escaping me at the moment, they can provide some screening too. Finally, regarding sharp holly leaves... if that's a busy street, you probably don't want the kids cavorting around those bushes anyhow, and sharp leaves would give you an additional reason to dissuade them. KarinL

If you do not want to install a stucco fence, if city code allows intall a short electric fence along the back property line to discourage wild animals from invading and eating your landscaping. Then Plant two rows of Thuja Plicata Green Giants in a staggered pattern for the entire length of your house. Plant all the trees on 10 foot centers, and be sure to dig the planting holes for the back row of trees at least 6 feet away from the easement. Also, space the center holes for the front row of trees at least 10 feet infront of the back row. X,,,X,,,X,,,X,,,X...X...X...X...X...X...X ...X...X,,,X...X...X...X...X...X...X...X county drainage easment, county drainage easement As you can see from the planting example created by the rows of Xs above, it will take 21 trees planted on 10 feet centers to cover each 100 linear feet of your back boundry that you want to plant with Thuja Plicata Green Giants. If you want to plant them for nearly the length of your home and and if that linear length is more than 200 feet, then you will need to plant more than 42 of these trees. If you wanted to plant the entire 400 yard linear boundry line than you will need to plant 84 of these trees. If you can purchase 84 one gallon sized potted trees, purchasing that many should be much easier on your budget. For each of these one gallon size trees you choose to purchase just predig holes 3 feet wide in diameter by 10 inches to 1 foot deep. Also pre install a drip watering system with outlets, which once the trees are planted, can be positioned to water each tree individually. A high graded quality one gallon Thuja Plicata Green Giant tree should be anywhere from 12 to 18 inches tall and have a well filled in pyramid shape. If the winters are mild in your part of California, then one gallon trees that are watered correctly and given slow release non burning fertilizer at the beginning of each growing season, should be expected to acclimate fairly quickly and grow at least 6 to 12 inches during the first year after you plant them. The next year if you have been good to keep them watered properly, and fertized at the approprate times, they should grow at least an addtional 3 feet. By the end of the 3rd year if you have still kept them watered at the right amounts, and fertilized appropriately, then they should have grown an additional 5 feet. That means your trees by the end of the 3rd year, could at the very least have grown to be about 11 feet tall. By that time, it is possible that they could have spread enough, if you planted two staggered rows to almost be giving you a solid wall affect for at least the 4 feet up the trees' height. Every year there after they should grow at about 5 feet, and as long as you keep them fertilized properly their skinny new top growth should keep filling out at a fairly nice pace. Other wise if the trees are not fertilized at the beginning of their growing season, but if they get the right amount of soil moisture, they will grow taller, but the new growth will look thin and sparce, while taking over six months or more to ever fill out with a well balanced branching pattern. If your trees begin to take on such an appearance, by all means resist the temptation to snip of that thin up shoot of growth. Instead simply begin feeding and watering the tree properlly and it will respond by producing a nice amount of branches on that upshoot of new growth and also, follow that with more new height growth. With these trees, always remember that any branch you cut off at the trunk will not grow back, so if for any reason the lower branches become brown due to the tree not getting enough water, or the tree's roots suffocating from too much water, do not cut those branches off to the trunk. So do not purchase trees which have a lot of lower trunk showing. Also if after plantings the trees encounter too dry of soil and begin to brown. Do not prune away the brown branches. Instead you can remove the dead needles if you would like, and simply begin making certain the tree gets adequate moisture. Then be patient and if you have begun the better care paractices in time, you can be assured the tree will grow new green needles on those bare dead looking branches you left on the tree. If the tree's lower branches begin to die due to soggy soil conditions which suffocate the tree's root system, you should wait to see if these dead looking branches will recover, with proper care of the tree, but in that situation there is not such a high chance these will respond as well as desired. If you plant a wall of these trees, than to prevent them looking boring consider planting a variety of shorter and not to broad of spreading ornamentsl shrubs planted and spaced appropriately infront and lined up with the middle of the front row of tree's spacing. At the feet of the ornamental shrubs you could install a border planting of continuously flowering, or very decorative leafed one to two feet tall potential growing plants or shrubs.

Is that actually a deck outside the window? How much privacy do you require? There is vinyl privacy film, but it's there during the day as well. To me that would be as unpleasant as blocking the entire window with blackout roller shades; though you can install them inside-mount vs. outside-mount which covers less of the actual window. And even the fairly translucent stuff still blocks the light. Plus I would imagine that it's about as effective as your sheer curtains. https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/category/home-decor/curtain-rods-hardware/window-film/12632/ What about a different sort of blind or shade -- I can't stand Venetian blinds (are they called that anymore?), but I do like bamboo matchstick blinds/roller shades and Roman shades. Or, switch out your sheer curtains for something less sheer. You could replace your current curtain rod with a double-curtain rod, and have a more opaque pair behind the sheers.