Hi Jason, Holy Cow! I am amused that my post from '04 is still getting responses! Anyway, in '05 I planted Heavenly Bamboo (not a bamboo, it's a shrub with leaves that resemble bamboo). There are a few different varieties, mine is the larger type that grows to about 8ft. I planted them about 6 ft. apart and now have a beautiful screen from my neighbors. I really like it because of the red berries and orange type foliage it has in the winter, white flowers in spring, and bright green leaves in warmer months. I've discovered that separating the branches by hand to keep them from getting tangled with each other helps air flow and prevents disease etc. Before I planted the stuff I installed a fence made of white lattice panels. I am NOT a carpenter so what I make looks O.K. but by no means professional. I wound up leaving the side facing the neighbors looking like crap, exposed studs, brackets etc. I never really intended for the fence to be permanent. I dug holes and used large stones to secure it and keep it up right. I guess they got tired of looking at the ugly side of the fence, the cleaned up their yard, and I moved the fence to the back (they still have not cleaned this mess up, probably won't after 4 years) and used cement to secure it. My bad edges etc. are covered by vines etc. Everyone says it looks nice! SG

You need to do a real sight-line analysis to figure out just where you need privacy to and from. If the house behind is elevated, what you may need is trees with a wide/tall canopy, not evergreens or fencing at ground level. And the canopy trees can be in the middle of the yard, not necessarily at the perimeter. Have someone go outside holding up an upside-down rake to pinpoint exact locations if you have to. Then create beds or varied plantings around that area to complement the main privacy-providing plant. Think about whether you want privacy to your windows, your deck, or elsewhere in your yard. Sometimes one tree, the right shape, in a strategic location will do it all. And does the privacy have to be both summer and winter? That will determine whether you go deciduous or evergreen. Being then by sketching up (mentally or on paper in a plan (birds-eye) view, where you want stuff to block the sightlines. If that is achievable with foliage, well and good, but maybe a pergola or something will work better. If you want plants to do the work, I would suggest as a next step that you go to your local nurseries and start looking at plants and discuss with the owner/staff there what kind of trees you need if they don't seem to have them in stock - tall narrow ones, or wide with low or high canopy.... They will be getting more stock as the planting season progresses. If you want some concrete ideas, it will be best if you provide concrete information - a site plan with elevations, or some photos. Karin L

I don't say this to be argumentative, but personally I'm not crazy about this garden or the inukshuks. The garden is kind of pretty, and probably looks better than most disturbed areas in an urban setting. But in general I would rather see a natural gully with native plants that would naturally grow in such a spot, not exotic plants like Canna lilies and Mimosa trees. Especially a species like Albizia julibrissin which has shown invasive tendencies in Florida and the mid-atlantic states. When I'm out in nature, I want to experience nature - not yet more signs of human disturbance of nature. JMO.

Semiarundinaria is quite vertical. There are many unconfined plantings of it in the area, that have not spread all over - this is true of other species used here also, the outcome varies with the situation. But any running bamboo can suddenly start coming up yards away from the mother clump, making the installation of barrier essential where such an occurrence would be a problem. All the full height Thuja occidentalis cultvars have approximately the same vigor. The 'Smaragd' will be so much more prevalent than the others because it is what people are looking for. The only problem with it is it is more prone to poor soil drainage than most others, resulting in frequent internet questions about part of a hedge of it going brown. I have also seen it browned in sections by mites during hot weather. But this latter development is probably not especially peculiar to 'Smaragd'. 'Oregon Blue' is merely an otherwise more or less typical Chamaecyparis lawsoniana with a saturated blue coloration. The vigor of some local specimens suggests these are programmed to grow into towering trees just like thousands of other examples of the species in local plantings. In the wild the species is interesting for growing just about everywhere within the comparatively small range it occupies, unlike many other wild tree species now confined to small ranges - and also being limited to specific site conditions within those ranges. So no, there is no particular soil moisture regime etc. that must be provided for it - numerous other cultivars of C. lawsoniana are still all over the place on local properties, despite the inroads of several different root pathogens in later times. The main thing is to place it in soil that drains well - and is not or does not become infested with one of the water molds that kills even specimens that have been in place for decades.