Bamboo would work fine for your purpose, but you don't grow it from seed, usually, so you have to buy divisions, and whole plants can be expensive on the scale you are talking about. A bamboo 6' high in a 5-gallon pot would probably be about $40. If you want bamboo that you don't have to maintain, then you would go with clumping bamboo, which is not invasive. Contrary to what the previous poster said, bamboo does not invade pipes or break through concrete, and this applies to all kinds of bamboo, both clumping and running. If you have clumping, you don't need any kind of barrier. If you have running and don't want it to be invasive, you need to install bamboo barrier in a trench about 24" deep. Bamboo barrier is a specialty, high-density plastic that is usually 60 to 80 mils thick. Anything less than that, such as black plastic sheeting, will be about as effective as tissue paper.

To paraphrase what they used to sing on a kid's show, some of these things are not like the others... your designer's plants don't go together well. Some of the suggested selections want a lot of moisture and some want much dryer conditions. Unless it's a large area that goes from a high dry spot to a low moist one, some part of that list is gonna suffer. Looking at that list, the evening primrose and whorled milkweed like near-xeric (dry) conditions, while the coneflowers, verbena (not sure this is hardy in your area, actually) and rudbeckia like mesic ("normal"), and the ninebark and willow need steady moisture to prosper. Asclepias incarnata (Swamp Milkweed), which was suggested above, likes mesic to moist conditions, and err on the moist side for best results. Assuming IG stands for Ilex glabra, it prefers a mesic to moist situation, and in your area would also appreciate shelter from cold northwest winter winds. Cedar is adaptable to everything except wet feet, and there are some cool cultivars available of both J. virginiana (eastern red cedar) and J. scopulorum (rocky mountain cedar). No telling about the oak, as you need to know the species to know what conditions are appropriate. Black gum's a good choice unless the site is quite dry. That's a dioecious species, so if you get a female and there's a boy gum around to pollinate, you'll have a messy berry drop in the summer, if that's a consideration. Amsonia is an awesome genus and very adaptable -- A. hubrichtii is quite beautiful in and out of bloom. Joe Pye Weed wants moisture, as does Panicum. Sporobolis wants dryer. Liatris spicata prefers moisture, but there are plenty of liatris species to choose from that will like whatever you've got. Many mesic plants are fairly drought hardy when established, so a dry-ish site might not kill them once they've been in the ground a year or two with good culture and no stress. But that just means they survive a drought, not that they look good and sail through untouched. Coneflowers are a good example. They usually survive dry spells, but they often look pretty wretched. It's sort of a judgment call on whether they're appropriate for you, depending on how pretty you want the garden to look like in the bad times. No offense, but I don't think the designer is very up on his/her natives. I'd say you'd probably lose 30-40% of those original suggested plants over time, depending on whether your situation is dryer or moister. I've found that good way to figure this out, if the site is relatively undeveloped, is to take a look at whatever's growing there now (even weeds), ID it, then look up its preferred habitat relative to moisture availability. That'll help you figure out what will thrive there without irrigation or other artificial life support. Then you can develop a plant list that suits the site. BTW, I assume "swan" coneflower is 'White Swan', an older white selection of E. purpurea. There are better newer white cultivars now, such as 'Primadonna White', which for me has performed better and is a prettier garden subject to my eye.

Is there no chance of you buying some of that latticework (say 2 feet in height) and nailing it to the fence, then growing an evergreen climber up it? (Probably something vigorous like honeysuckle or plumbago; or maybe someone can suggest a similarly tough native climber.) It's a bit more work but avoids problems with too-tall shrubs/trees, would look quite pretty--both from your side and theirs--and would take up less space too. Alternatively, visit your local nursery and see what plants are on offer. (There should be a 'hedging/screening' section of plants to choose from.) I'm sure you'll find something suitable for your area as your problem is a common one.

As far as I know, there aren't many evergreen shrubs that are also host plants for butterflies. I've heard of people planting red bay (Persea borbonia) or swamp bay (P. palustris) which are evergreen and keeping them pruned to bush size, but they're only regularly used by palamedes swallowtails, which don't occur in north Alabama. Once in a blue moon I find a spicebush swallowtail caterpillar on mine, but it wouldn't be worth it for you. Spicebush swallowtails lay eggs just as freely on sassafras as they do spicebush, so you could plant some 'out back' for them. Sassafras doesn't need a shady swamp like spicebush. If I were you, I'd use one of the native viburnums for foundation planting, like V. acerifolium/maple leaf viburnum or V. dentatum/arrow wood. Maple leaf viburnum has some of the most beautiful leaves, plus azalea sphinx moths occasionally use viburnums as host plants. Bird just LOVE the berries! The best thing about the native viburnums is that they're so easy to grow, they can survive foundation soil, which is usually full of subsoil turned over by the builders and hard to repair. If your foundation area is real wet, you could plant the possumhaw viburnum, which is evergreen. The best wildlife plant out there is wild black cherry/Prunus serotina, but it makes a big tree. If you have a big enough yard, it would be well worth it to have several. It's host to both tiger swallowtails and red-spotted purples, plus many of the big moths, like cecropia moths, use it as a host plant, bees use the flowers, and birds love the fruit. In regard to butterflies, you probably should watch to see what butterflies occur in your area, look up their host plant/s, and plant them if you'd like to see more of them. Buttonbush is a real draw as a nectar plant for butterflies and MANY other insects, but, unless you have a consistently wet spot for it, it might not make it. I have about a dozen blueberry bushes which have gotten big, and they keep me and the birds eating blueberries from about the first week in June until August - I have different varieties that mature at different times. And they're SO easy to grow, no insecticides needed, just acid soil! There are many plants that make good nectar plants. I have a bottlebrush buckeye that butterflies just LOVE, but it only blooms once a year. You could plant some pentas, which butterflies like to nectar on and tersa sphinx moths like to use as a host plant. Of course, there's milkweed, the monarch host plant that all butterflies like to nectar on, zinnias, butterfly bush, and lantana, which can't be beat! A good butterfly book that includes host plants, and a good bird book would be a great buy! Sherry