Robert, Oh, I cannot believe you have one. You have EVERYTHING there! I saw a photo once of a trifoliate orange fence. They planted those killer trees about two feet from one another, and every year, using chain saws and, I assume, wearing suits of armor, they cut them back almost to bare trunks....you know, I think the term would be that the trees were pollarded. It made an incredibly dense fence that absolutely nothing could penetrate. Personally, I wouldn't plant that kind of fence, but if I had a neighbor like Ezzirah's, I might be tempted to do so. Ezzirah, A neighbor like that would drive me insane. Actually, we had a neighbor like that in Fort Worth, except the trees weren't actually anything they planted....they were hackberry trees that had grown up near the fence line in their yard many years earlier when it was her mother's house. It was an older neighborhood (the neighborhood in which I had grown up) and the trees were very tall and had grown right through the chain link fence so the fence was embedded inside the trees. First we put up a wooden privacy fence, so we didn't have to look at the tree trunks with the fence right in the middle of them. Then, whenever the trees came over the privacy fence, I pruned the limbs back, and I pruned them up as high as I could reach with a pole pruner to give us more sun. Did she like it? No, but she didn't like anyone or anything, so it was just one more thing to make her unhappy. Some people are determined to be 'difficult' and it sounds like you may have that kind of neighbor, which is just so unfortunate. I feel like we're pretty lucky. We're in our early 50s now, and that really was the only truly unpleasant neighbor we've ever had. All the neighbors we have here in our little rural community are WONDERFUL and I am so thankful that we have kind, gracious, friendly, loving neighbors. It makes life so much more pleasant. Remember the old saying "Good fences make good neighbors." Good luck with the neighbor/fence/tree issue. I suspect it may cause you some frustration. Dawn

Linda, how long have you had yours? The varying reports of height are the reason I'm asking about it. There's a photo in Howard Garrett's "Plants for Houston" of a gorgeous well shaped smallish tree, but most of what I've seen seem to be pretty bushy (sometimes large) plants. I'd love a tree like that, but I don't want a 6' bush in the middle of my yard. On the other hand, it doesn't seem like it would do it justice to plant something that could turn into such a well formed tree against a fence... I'm starting to think maybe I should pick something with a more predictable final look.

Have: Virginia Creeper, Hackberry, Swamp White Oak, Lacebark Elm, Bald Cypress. In SW OKC.

Bostedo, thank you for relating your experience and for the link. Another site listed it as slow growing also. Maybe that's why you don't see many of them in landscapes, or perhaps they are there, but not recognized. That and it's name "rusty blackhaw". Now if it were named "Fairy Godmother Princess Gift Tree" it might command more attention! Slow growing as it is it may not work where I wanted to plant it as a screen for the fence. However, I don't mind planting for the future, even if I may not in that future. So I would still like to find a good open place to plant one since it has so many good qualities.