The earlier tree was dying, but shaded the kitchen and dining room windows while softening the exterior of the house. They are looking for a tree small enough to fit in the space without causing problems, so need ideas of varieties. Their earlier home was a large house with a generous yard and the small lot is a big change. Some other trees that were mentioned are flowering crab and hawthorn. The space is a 16 foot wide side yard between the house and the street, no sidewalk or power line issues. I'll look into how to load a picture as that might help you see our problem--I'm new to this site. I usually buy from a quality garden center when their trees go on sale in early spring and fall, so this isn't a rush decision. At this point there's one lonely yew next to the porch so they're also planning landscaping around the house, but the tree decision comes first.

Sandie, Oh my goodness I have been going crazy trying to remember where I saw your post on GW. I had a major meltdown on the computer right after I e mailed you about coming over to dig one morning and was never able to reach you to tell you what happened. I am soooo sorry, all this time you must have thought I was a total jerk. I kept sending e mails with no reply, I only discovered later that my e mail wasn't being sent! When I tried to fix the program I wound up dumping everything and lost your info. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know what had happened and to tell you how sorry I was for leaving you hanging. Cindy

For a picture of our back yard, I think I will have to wait until the wall is constructed to actually get anything that would be useful to this thread. The link I posted in my follow-up is the closest I can come to for now. In that example picture, I posted, our yard would be on the other side of the trees and our neighbor would be the one seeing the wall. As far as the height of the Emeralds, I read that they mature to a height of 8-12' which I thought would be fine since we are sitting up a little higher anyway. I like the Green Giants...but as you said they can get maybe too big for what I had in mind here (10-15' would be ideal for me) and from the little bit I know about them, the GG seem to require a little more maintenance than the Emeralds to keep them in check. Also, do the Emeralds grow as fast as GG but just not as tall? Thanks again!

Ooops! Forget the wooden shoes. . .that windmill is way bigger than I expected - (but it looks great, and if you ever decide the windmill "has to go", I'll be happy to take it off your hands!) - but it immediately suggested that it needed a water feature as a companion. That's a handsome fence, by the way, and I actually have a design suggestion involving a fence addition that would immediately screen out more of that neighboring building. I've used this method in my garden to screen out a neighbor's garage, and also used it in a number of client's gardens. . .let me know if you're interested, and I'll stop by during one of my CT garden tours and explain it. Carl