It looks like your neighbor owns the fence, correct? I'd choose plants that won't do any damage to the fence (no poking through with limbs that could get fat & stress the pickets, nothing that drops berries that could stain it). Do they power-wash the fence? If so, leave a buffer of empty space between your shrubs and their fence so you can hopefully put up plastic to deflect the high velocity soapy water. I'm just thinking the worst because your neighbor sounds difficult to deal with. A friend had a berm & many shrubs planted to give her yard some privacy, it was exposed on 2 sides. I can't advise you on what conifers will do well in your zone, but I can tell you what has worked (and not worked) in her landscape now 8 years later ... Planting white pines gave her near-instant privacy, but is now crowding everything else. I think they were put in to be a temporary measure but she loves the way they block visibility in the winter so she's torn about getting rid of them. Planting several different kinds of a single plant worked well. She has a ton of lilacs which extends the bloom time. Planting bushy perennials at the feet of those lilacs works well to hide their less-attractive leggy bits. But she finds the perennials & lilacs compete for water in the summer so she put in a soaker hose. She has some purple-foliaged shrub/trees like a purple sand cherry - that adds some nice contrast when nothing is in flower. Purple is the only colored foliage she went with, so the effect is calm. She had one big shrub with leaves with white margins. It always looked sickly from a distance, even though it wasn't. Since you'll be seeing this area from a distance you probably want to stand WAY back from variegated foliage to figure out if you have the same thoughts about those plants. She wanted something for the local wildlife to snack on, so she added rosa rugosa for their rose hips. They are pretty and they tolerate the sand/salt from the road nearby - but they aren't so pretty in winter. It's a love/hate relationship. Is there a wealthy neighborhood or town nearby that you can drive through? That's my fall back position when I know I want to do something but I'm not sure what will look good. I go look at what combinations look good in other people's yards! Good luck with the planting and with the neighbor.

First thought is you are mixing water needs choosing from the entire spectrum - e.g. juniper and unknown spiraea have different needs. Second, unless you are getting water overspray from turf, some of the choices will cost you money in water as you try and keep them alive in our climate - lilac, forsythia, viburnum, elder (and you'll drown some of the others); the Front Range is semi-arid, not like east of the Mississippi. Third, the exposure for some won't work: viburnum, euonymus. Fourth, dwf arctic willow achieves 6-8' easy, won't go in front. I'd be interested to see if you could get a cranberry bush to grow there without Herculean efforts. You might get the hibiscus to go if there is plenty of organic matter in the soil and you've gotten the pH down. Dan

Look at the layout and see the coverage and the size of the of rotors. What do you prefer to live with. Bigger rotors reach distance with less count or smaller rotor reach with bigger count. Also look at brands and lines of brands. One might be home quality or one might be commercial quality. Ask the companies about the what quality they are providing. Yes a third quotes is optimal. Get a detailed description of the what they will do and provide as equipment. Post it here for comments. aloha

We must be relatively close . . . I'm just north of Concord, NH. There's a plant swap in Goffstown, NH (less than 10 minutes from exit 6 off 293) next weekend, so if you want to meet some relatively local gardeners, join us! Details on the New England forum here on GW or send me a message via my page by clicking on my name and message. New-comers welcome with or without plants. I love mixed shrub borders and have several myself. It looks like you have a backbone of shrubs that will give you a long season of flowers. I'd start by visiting something like the Missouri Botanical Garden's plantfinder to get a somewhat more realistic estimate on shrub sizes, which on tags is often given at 5 years. You would want to know which dwarf lilac you have, though, such as Miss Kim. Just type the plant name in at the top and hit enter to get a page about the plant. The dwarf lilacs will get bigger than they are now, with Miss Kim getting 4'-9' tall and Palibin getting 4'-5' tall and both 5'-7' wide. Pinky Winky will get a lot bigger. Mine is 8' tall and 12' wide and was planted at about 2' in all directions in 2010. The spiral trellis in front of the dark green arborvitae is 5' tall to give scale and there is another spiral buried within PW since I had no idea that it got this large. I don't expect it to get much larger since it has slowed down a lot, but this was in 2014. I usually plant perennials to fill in between shrubs while they grow and then move them outwards as they get shaded or crowded so that the border doesn't look too stark in its early years. I can't see how deep your border can be, but I'd go ahead and plant now what you think will look good and where without worrying too much. It sounds like you have a nice selection that will look good over a long season. Plant in clumps of several together if you want a quicker impact; otherwise all will expand over time to good-sized clumps. Move them later as needed to change if you don't like how things go together or as the shrubs get bigger. Two exceptions I notice to this. Plant your Russian sage where it will have room and sun for a while since it is a subshrub and won't move as easily as most perennials IME. Peonies also like to be planted in their permanent spot, and need quite a bit of sun, so I'd plant it where the shrubs are unlikely to overwhelm it and where it will be to the south of most of the shrubs. They can be moved if needed, but may sulk for a bit if you do. They should be planted so that there's no more than a couple inches between the top of the root and the top of the soil and mulch. They don't like deep planting if they are to bloom. Plant the creeping phlox at the outer edge of the lilacs and they will move outward as the shrub grows. Enjoy the process! I leave the brown flowers on PW for winter interest. If you see a small shrub that might give you more winter interest, whether evergreen or colored branches, you might consider adding that if there's space. Also, when your shrubs are a bit larger, you can add a clematis or 4 outside their drip line since all your shrubs have branches that are stiff enough to support clematis. Here's a different panicle hydrangea, Quickfire, with Clematis Little Bas. I'd love to see follow-up photos as it's planted and in future years.