OK, lots of questions. Here are answers: -The big tree is a silver maple. We actually have more of a problem with too much water, as we're the low point on the block and the soil drainage isn't great. Minor standing water after heavy rains at times. It's not what I would have planted, but we both really like having a mature tree back there, so we're not interested in removing it. -The property ends in the back right before there's a faint line of shrub trunks. I can't remember what they are, but it's like Photinia or something else uninteresting that's planted by the neighbors. The white thing is the mini-skating rink they're setting up (if we ever actually get any winter). -The yard runs east to west. In this photo you're looking almost exactly east. There are medium sized trees on the south size, so this part of the yard varies from full shade to part shade. -We like both conifers and broadleaf shrubs. There are a fair number of deciduous shrubs back there--lilac, ninebark, burning bush, weigela, etc--so we're looking for suggestions that would keep their leaves in the winter and mix in with those. We both prefer a more natural look, so we won't be forcing right angles on boxwoods or anything like that. -We're not really considering cost at the moment, just getting ideas. We'll deal with the budget once we get a better grasp on what we want to do, although we won't just pour money into relatively unimportant parts of the yard. -Yes, there are power lines on the left (north), so we need to be cautious about what goes there. -The logs are from another silver maple that the previous owners cut down last year. It was just a bit further to the left from the perspective in this photo. -We are definitely planning some kind of a pergola on the patio (behind the garage to the right--you can't really see it), but we don't want to block it off from the rest of the yard. I'd like to be able to enjoy the view of the rest of the yard while sitting there. There's also a (currently non-functioning) pond/fountain you can't see that we're planning to fix at some point, too, and we'll eventually be replacing the brick with better pavers, but these are other conversations for a different day. The point that you make about putting stuff in the middle seems like a great one. That's exactly the sort of ideas we were hoping to generate by posting here, so keep 'em coming! Thanks!

http://www.classicviburnums.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/home.home/index.htm Classic Viburnums Viburnum x pragense Prague Viburnum A hybrid cross between V. rhytidophyllum and V. utile made at the Prague Municipal Gardens, Czech Republic in 1955. An attractive, fast growing shrub, growing to 10' tall and 8-10' wide giving it upright oval to oval-rounded. The very waxy foliage is dark green above and felt gray beneath, 2-4" long, elliptic-lanceolate, and semi-evergreen. Flower buds are flat and pink, opening to pinkish-white, slightly fragrant 3-6" cymes in May. Fruit is red, changing to shiny black but very sparse to non-existent. Severe leaf burn but no stem or bud damage at -17�. The evergreen foliage makes it an excellent screening plant while the very waxy leaves and fine texture lends its use as an accent plant. The growth extensions are very vigorous and need to be pruned to achieve density. It can be easily trimmed as a formal hedge and I have been told of pragense being sheared as a capitata yew at a cemetery in downtown Kansas City. Zone 5 USDA Hardiness Zone: 5 Height: 10 Feet Spread: 8-10 Feet Viburnum x pragense Characteristics Growth Rate in the Garden Moderate to Fast Habit Upright, rounded Soil Requirements Acid Moist, well drained Sun Requirements Full Sun to Part Shade Flowering Season Mid to late May Fragrant Flowers Yes Fruit Sparse Red to black Winter foliage Semi-evergreen

The Techny Arborvitae could be planted in a row as a screen or standalone as a specimen. Mine are planted kind of intermediate to this. I have them on one of my property borders amongst other plantings (I did plant 2 next to each other). Ive got emerald green arborvitae and green giants and this can be thought of as intermediate solution to screen(more than EG, less that GG, also dense foliage like EG). Foliage is dense, a darker green, and elegant if I must say so myself. Love the (3d) look of the foliage and I get two tones of color as well. The color is real nice. Though I havent, if I could do it again, I would plant one as a specimen tree in a second. Depending on how much space you have/what other selections you have in mind other selections may be more appropriate(in regards to planting it as a specimen tree, lets face it there are other more beautiful conifers, though this is beautiful as well). Just thought Id throw it out there since they dont get mentioned much on here and Im quite happy with mine.

Evergreen plants will also drop spent parts on the neighbor's lawn. And probably also shade it out more effectively than deciduous trees. So now there are two other aspects of the proposed scheme where a tall planting over along the fence may not be the optimum way to achieve the desired level of privacy. In other words if you don't want to affect the neighbor's lawn at all, including merely dropping leaves etc. on it you are simply not going to be able to have a tall hedge or screen along that fence line. It's too bad the wire fence isn't the maximum height allowed by local codes (6 ft.?). Then you could achieve a lot of screening merely by covering it with vines, such as the clematis. This approach would occupy minimal horizontal space and vigorous kinds like that develop rapidly. Even this arrangement would still produce a shadow, generate debris - and in addition would have to be pruned to keep it close to the fence - on both sides of the fence. A big part of the problem is that the neighbor's have done nothing to give themselves privacy from you, on their side of the fence. I have the same situation here. In addition I have had them reach over my similar height wire fence - I am not the one that had it installed, would have gone to the full 6 ft. height allowed if I had - and cut off part of a screening planting I had in place, throw the prunings down on my side of the fence because "it drops leaves on our bark". So I took the planting out. Now they complain about my sensor activated flood lights, which "shine in our bedroom window". Point being is if there is any possibility of similar reactions from your neighbors you again may want to instead focus on doing what you can over near where you are when you think you are too open to view, instead of over by the fence.