Ken, I noticed your name in another thread. I figured it was most likely something else, but couldn't help but to wonder if you were from Adrian, MI. Cool... hello neighbor... I live in Grosse Ile by the way. You are right about the view of the house once the leaves fall. I should have mentioned that it's not really the house that I want to add some privacy from, it's the people that live there. Nothing against them, they are great neighbors and we get along just fine, but we entertain in our back yard very often during the warm weather months and our neighbors across the water do as well. So I'm really just trying to create some privacy during the months when we'll be out in the yard and the trees will have leaves on them during those months. :) Your comment on conifers is noted and not eliminated from the list of possibilities; I've taken a look at Bald Cypress based on Tornado's recommendation. As for the leaves, yes they will "blow" into the water... possibly assisted by some gas powered mechanical device. :) I have plans for Green Giants along my entire 800' north property line. Do you have any Green Giants? Where did you purchase them, how large were they, how far did you space them, and how fast did they establish/grow? The prevailing wind at my house is pretty variable all the time. It generally ranges about 180ú, blowing from SE counter clockwise to NW, but it sometimes even blows from the SW. I attached another photo for a more recent and closer vantage point. This photo was taken right around early June 2009, the year we moved in. Not much has changed since then in terms of trees except a few of my many nightmare Cottonwood trees have been cut down. PS - I hate Cottonwood trees!!! This post was edited by bajafx4 on Wed, Jun 5, 13 at 8:40

If it was up to me, Norway maples (along with all other non-native seeding trees) would be banned. I'll never understand the fascination with these brown leaved monstrosities, they're like the Lada of the tree world. Red maples (Acer rubrum) are superior in every way (growth habit, spring colour, summer colour, fall colour, less dense, they're native etc.) I shouldn't be so hard on the layman when most nursery workers have no clue what they're talking about. Unless you fully understand growth habit, growth rate, cultural requirements, and ultimate height and spread, chances are you'll choose the wrong tree. Do your homework.

To repeat what has been said a number of times before, there are Red Maples (Acer rubrum) in varying cultivars and then there are other cultivars of maples whose leaves turn red in the fall. There are also maples, mostly Japanese maples but other species as well, whose leaves come in red or reddish, some of whose leaves stay red and some turn green. The TRUE Red Maple is the A. rubrum, so called, as far as I know, because the flowers, which are very early before the leaves, are very red, as are the early stages of the samaras. Any other tree, if of another variety of maple (Norway, silver, etc.) MAY have the word red somewhere in its name, or have red leaves all summer or in the fall, but it will NOT BE a Red Maple, although it may be a red-colored maple, for example, the above mentioned Crimson King Norway Maple. Sorry for the lecture, but it's a pet peeve, and so you got the rant....

Nothing fast about the growth rate of dogwoods :-) Raywood ash (Fraxinus oxycarpa 'Raywood') might be a nice choice - rapid growth, excellent reddish purple fall foliage and great foliage texture. And relatively drought tolerant once established. May eventually grow somewhat larger than your intended height but that'll take time. Katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) is another great fall color shade tree with a moderately rapid growth rate but miminal drought tolerance (although there is a gorgeous mature one at my current location that gets NO supplemental irrigation and appears unscathed by both the current heat and dryness). Parrotia or oxydendrum have great fall color and good drought tolerance once established but are not fast growing. Parrotia will eventually present a flatter canopy than the others suggested. Paperbark maple is another possibility but doesn't meet either the rapid growth or drought tolerant requirements.