EVERYTHING is movable./.. its called the nursery business ... BUT!!! ... there are key seasons to do such... and SUMMER IS NOT ONE OF THEM ...especially for a newb .... BTW .. its a shrub.. and there is a shrub forum ... check in there around 9/1 ... if you want to contemplate moving them ... it is done when they are dormant ... not in the heat of the summer ken ps: in the mean time.. think about how hard you want to work for a 20 or 30 dollar plant .. frankly.. i would prefer not to spend 5 hours digging and hauling this thing around the yard.. for 20 freakin dollars... i would cut it flush to the ground.. apply stump killer.. and go buy a new one ... saving a planting mistake.. because its been there since the idiot original owner planted a darn tree in front of a window without the foresight to understand THAT IT WILL GROW OVER THE WINDOW ... is NOT a reason to save it ... get rid of it.. and plant your own mistakes... lol.. it took me 5 years at my first house.. to finally understand this ... dont waste the 5 years i did ...

You didn't like our advice on the other thread to wait to plant? ;>) I do understand that you want a beautiful view NOW if not yesterday. As a newbie, it's really really easy to spend money that ends up being wasted . . . wrong plant for the spot, or your tastes in plantings haven't really developed so that 3 years from now you wonder "What was I thinking?!" or you order from a nursery that sends out almost dead twigs though their photos looked lovely. I've done all these and more. I am sending you an email with a website that you can use to check out the reliability of a mailorder or internet nursery. (I can't post it here as GW views the other website as competition.) I know it's difficult, but until you know how much sun you have there during the growing season you really can't decide on what plants to put there. You also need to know what kind of trees you have since some trees aren't likely to let other plants grow under them due to root competition (maples in particular.) An unhappy plant (spindly or diseased quite often) is worse than no plant in my opinion. Both Nellie Stevens and Green Giant like full sun to part shade and it looks to me like there's a good chance that you won't have that, but you won't know until you've actually observed it. I've known several folks who put up a temporary light weight bamboo fence until plants have grown up enough, and something like that between the big tree and the corner could get you through the first season, along with some large potted plants. How tolerant of salt are Nellie and GG? Being alongside the road whatever you plant will need some salt tolerance unless you are in an area where salt isn't used, especially since at an intersection more salt may be used. Around here, the salt spray thrown up by tires does damage to evergreens' foliage. Your yard is higher than the road so you may not need to worry about root damage from salt. You commented at one point in the previous thread: "Maybe our main goal is more about creating something beautiful and also adding a little privacy than just about closing ourselves in." I agree with Steve that Molie is giving you good advice in recommending a berm set back a bit with a variety of plants that are evergreen but shade tolerant. Check out hedges of all of one kind of plant vs a mixed planting by driving around areas with plantings you like. Look at different plants used to block unsightly views and how they are used. Do you need a whole wall of green and do you like that look? (One of the problems with this is that if one dies or grows slower, it can look unbalanced, like a mouth with broken or missing teeth.) Will a mixed shrub border work better? Will tall grasses or a clumping bamboo work better? (though neither of those will work if you have too much shade.) Would just 3 or 5 shrubs and a couple small beautiful trees be enough to pull your attention away from the road and let your eyes rest in the yard? Are you willing to prune to maintain height or width? Would a relatively low fence (to block headlights and some sound) be enough if it had plantings set back from it on one or both sides? Have you figured out if you want to use your front yard or just look at it? The Missouri Botanical Garden's Plantfinder has the option of putting in plant requirements, and I'd look at plants that are happy with part shade at least. Get a soil test done so you know what your soil has now and may need added. It will also tell you what will grow there, since some plants will only grow in certain conditions (like acidic and high organic content or lots clay and moisture.) It's good you are asking questions, since it will save you problems in the long run. Here's link to a thread on a mixed border I created for full sun. You would want different plants, but it might help you start thinking about whether you like a mixed planting vs a planting of all of one type of plant. I planned mine to distract from a utility area, partly by adding interest and partly by blocking the unsightly view. There are photos at both the beginning and at the end. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg1208322318994.html Here is a link that might be useful: Missouri Botanical Garden Plantfinder

Thanks for the background info bart. Indeed that part of the world has a lot of microclimates; the book "The English Garden Abroad" documents, among other things, their discovery of these Mediterranean microclimates...that, for example, Kentias grew at Menton but not a few miles away on the coast. ( Menton is seemingly the mildest part of the coast from roughly Barcelona over to Rome.) But a reason I asked involved my observation that outwith the UK - a nation with plenty of avowed experimenters and/or "serious" horticulturalists - cultural traditions often dictate what is grown in an area in favor of the reality of what could grow there. For example along the Basque coast of Spain, I saw very few citrus trees, but saw a few gardens, public and private, with a lot of them that were huge, obviously healthy and bearing. Too big to protect and in the case of the public gardens, who would hassle with that anyhow? Some of them can grow just fine there, but, because it isn't part of the cultural traditions of that area, they aren't widely grown at all. But this is not to say I think you are incorrect! It's just explaining why I asked... What is your elevation? Surely at least Neriums are common there in your town/neighborhood? (Oleanders)

We can only see a very narrow part of the space from your photo, so it is difficult to be sure what might work. How big is the gap you are trying to cover up? Would you want taller plants during the growing season along with the lower plants to cover the gap? Would a row or two of cobblestones or landscape timbers be enough to cover the gap, such as Mad_gallica suggested? Can you set this up so that one panel is hinged and moveable for access under the deck, allowing you to plant in front of the rest of the panels in the ground? Or will that count against you as disturbance? If you plant native wetland plants that will help filter runoff is that an issue? Can you plant things in the ground that will recover fine from being cut to the ground for inspection? How often are the inspections? For instance, spirea and Hydrangea arborescens such as 'Annabelle' can be cut to the ground and will recover within a few weeks. Neither of these are evergreen, but if that type of planting is an option, I will consider other possibilities. If you are wedded to the idea of these planters, you might try a series of very hardy evergreen perennials and shrubs this year, and let the results next spring tell you what to plant for the final planting based on what survived. You can think about buying better insulated planters, either larger ones and lining them with a couple of layers of small bubble wrap internally and then mulching the soil surface well in autumn, or extruded foam planters, which I have seen at my local big box store. Because the foam holds air, it is light weight and provides insulation, and they resemble pottery. I find clusters of pots more interesting than only a straight line, so can you add some groupings of pots in front of these planters to break up the line? I can't see enough of the area to judge, and those groupings could have some annuals for a longer flowering period. Check out Geranium Biokovo Geranium macrorrhizum Iberis sempervirens/perennial candytuft Vaccinium vitis-idaea/Ligonberry AKA mountain cranberry Dianthus plumarius or D. gratianopolitanus/Cottage pinks Sedum 'Angelina' variegated thyme Veronica 'Georgia Blue' groundcover Junipers such as Blue Star All of these survive for me in the ground, including some that are in exposed settings that freeze pretty deeply. I can't help you with info on soil mixes. I just use a mix of regular good quality potting soil and coarse compost in my containers. Or there is always Sam_MD's solution of reasonably realistic plastic shrub for the winter and flowering annuals for the summer.