Beds are too skinny to be in scale with anything that tall. Maybe you should talk to a local garden designer or garden consultant and get all of your spaces and uses organized in one go.

Bboy has an excellent suggestion. I just had someone from my local nursery come out and I'm so glad I did. She was here for 2 hours and gave me lots of suggestions and ideas that I never would have come up with on my own. Only $50/hour which I thought was very good value.

Something to think about .... flowering trees won't give you any privacy when the branches are bare. I've just planted 9 western red cedar trees so I'll have privacy year-round and it won't take too many years to achieve. I back onto a park and feel like I'm living in a fish bowl at the moment.

After our unusual winter with lots of heavy snow, most of the tall cedar hedging around looks terrible. Cedar trees don't have that problem. I will have to be on top of pruning to keep them hedge-like but I'm willing to do it. The benefits outweigh the upkeep for my situation.

Most of the garden centres around here currently have booths set up inside where master gardeners and other green thumbs sit and answer questions. Your space is not that large. I'm sure if you took a couple of photos in and told them what you were after you would get some great advice. The nursery staff can also reccommend appropriate shrubs and trees to help fill your space.

You will likely need to widen your beds, but that is something you can do yourself if you're willing and able to do the work of removing the turf and bringing in soil, etc.

I'm also planning a new garden and have learned a ton by browsing the forums, checking out books from the library, buying some more second hand, spending way too much money on magazines, etc. :-)

Don't be in a rush -- I know it's hard. Take time to think about where your best views are and what most needs to be blocked out. You'll need to either plant quite thickly with larger size plants ($$$) or buy small stuff and be patient.

This year, while you take stock, you could gain some fast privacy by using containers to block out the worst offending areas and maybe plant some fast growing vines up trellises, etc.

If you plan to be in the house a while, take time to do it right, even though you want the privacy NOW!!

This is a pep talk I give myself on a regular basis. :-)

I like this site. The person who owns it has a small garden, but has done wonders and has very detailed descriptions and pictures of plants, shrubs and trees he/she likes that have done well. There are many such sites on the web.

Generally speaking, you'll probably want to mix some evergreen shrubs with some deciduous ones for interest, then lower-growing specimens in front. Many shrubs can be trained as small trees, which is good for smaller gardens. So don't just think 2-5' when you think shrub. Some are much larger, up to 15' or more. Lilacs, serviceberry, dogwoods, nandina, smoke bush, to name just a very few.

Think about what you like, what times of year you want the garden to look best (May, August, etc). PLan some things for winter interest - berries, neat structural plants, etc. What about hardscaping? Raised planter? Extended patio? Additional seating, etc.

Spend a lot of time in your garden assessing light conditions, views, try to get a really good sense of logical movement through the garden. What activities would you like to do in the garden, if any, and what sort of space do you need to do that.

How much time do you want to spend working in the yard? Do you like to putter with flowers and veggies or do you want low maintenance evergreen shrubs, grasses, etc?

These questions might be a PITA, but they really will help you come up with a long term plan and not just a stopgap fix that will annoy you in a year or two.

:-)

Here is a link that might be useful: paghat's garden

You may need to plant a tree or trees, in the lawn.

There will be surface roots someday, that looks like one of your best options for the size of trees that you may need.

Its almost too small of a lawn to trim its size down much smaller.

Thank you for all of your advice. I really hate to cut into the lawn any more. It's not much, but I would like someplace for my boys to chase each other around! We went to the garden center and they suggested some dwarf trees and some tall shrubs to help us fill in. We're now looking at smaller crabapples or flowering plum in the corner between the new spruce (big mistake, so I've learned!) and what I have discovered is a dwarf Alberta Spruce (first picture). We're also thinking about a Forsythia Lynwood grafted on a 4 ft. standard at the front of the bed in the third picture (across forom the oil can!) Along the back fence we are thinking about Viburnum, Lilacs and Forsythia for some interest and height. And maybe a few more evergreen shrubs. I hope we are not making a terrible mistake with any of these, but I'm sure that is part of the process!

Beth

It doesn't fit all of your criteria but the biggest bang for the buck would be Leyland Cypress, particularly a mix of Castlewellan (Goldish) Leyland Cypress and the regular green Leyland Cypress. There's another variation called Gold Rider Cypress that is gorgeous. They would all provide screens at very inexpensive cost (e.g., a 5' or tall leyland cypress could be bought for about $20, e.g., Home Depot). I would mix in some Japanese Maples to give fall color and such as Bloodgood and Fireglow which are always red and look beautiful contrasting with the green of the Leyland Cypress. Good luck with it!

A couple of shrubs that you may like are serviceberries and mock orange. I have both of them and enjoy the fact that they stay upright, require little care, won't take over an area, and the serviceberry supplies food for the birds in the winter.

Sorry but I can't agree that leylands would be a good tree for your area.....tho I do love them!
They would require a great deal of pruning to keep as a hedge and if not kept under control you'll find in about 4-5 years one would be taking up about half your yard. I have dozens of them but they're on the perimeter of 3 acres.

As mdvaden said, I'd look at planting a small tree in the lawn so that its canopy would give you shade and privacy.

Here is a link that might be useful: mock orange