I don't see why all the plantings have to be between the wall and the fence. Plant a few different kinds of small trees, some between and some not and you'll have privacy in a few years. And get the grass out between the two--it's a maintenance problem. Plant groundcovers, perhaps starting with sedums since it's now sunny, and transitioning to ones that like more shade as the trees grow.

What did the neighbor's on the other side of the fence plant? Anything? That could influence what you plant. I see a neighbor off to the side and behind you has planted Green Giants.
Do Crape Myrtles give that much privacy? I always think of them as being on the light side in that dept.
What direction is the fence from your house? With a small yard, that has a bearing on what you plant. A lot of evergreen winter shade can be a bummer. I'd plant some evergreens between the Crape Myrtles for winter privacy. I would imagine you aren't housebound in the winter like they are in Michigan and Wisconsin. ;-)
Designwise, I start off with evergreen trees, the deciduous trees, then evergreen shrubs, deciduous shrubs and then evergreen groundcovers. Perennials last. You can plant them in any order, but for a good design, the order above is a good way to go. It's logical.
Lacyvail is right, get rid of the grass behind and near the wall in front and save yourself a lot of work in the future. Work on the lawn shape so you can accomplish the privacy you want.
What end of the state are you in? Western is a lot different that eastern NC.
I can't give you any specific plant choices because my zone 8 climate is a lot different than yours, but I can give you basic design tips.
Hope this helps.
Mike

What is your concern about privacy? Privacy in your yard, or privacy of the second floor windows of your house?

I can not determine the grades from your house to the fence. If they are great enough you may already have privacy in most of your yard.

Sitting in a chair in your favorite spot in your yard, can you see the windows in the house behind you. The amount of window that you can see depends on what the neighbors can see, If you can only see the top you already have more privacy than you think.

laceyvail - thank you for the suggestions. I am in the process of getting all of the grass out from between the fence and retaining wall.

miketann - Nope, neighbors on the other side haven't planted anything. Their home was just built and they just moved in though, so I may ask if they plan on planting anything. If they did plant something, I would no longer need to. I think the crape myrtles will give great privacy when they have leaves, but not so much during the winter. This doesn't bother me so much. The main thing we need privacy is during the warmer months when we are outside. Our house is a ranch, so they cannot see in our house or anything. They can see everything we are doing in the yard or on the patio.

The long side of the fence is running north/south, so anything that is planted along the fence will get full sun. I like the suggestion of maybe 1-2 evergreens in between the crape myrtles for some winter privacy. I could do emerald green arbs, as the crape myrtles would give instant privacy.

krnuttle - main concern is privacy in our yard. The neighbors behind us can't really see in our house. If we are in our backyard we can see our neighbors behind us if they are on their patio.

Here are some more pictures of the area I am trying to get more privacy. You can see the 5 crapes in the back. I planted 3 "miami" crapes, and 2 "natchez" crapes. They are spaced about 10 feet apart. I am now considering taking out the 2 "natchez" crapes and replacing each one with 2 Wintergreen Hetz arbs for some evergreens. The main reason is I think I may have planted the crapes too close together, as both "miami" and "natchez" will get 20+ feet wide and tall.

I could then have the 3 "miami" crapes in the back, with 2 Hetz in between each and then end with 2 Hetz on the right (total of 6 Hetz). I could move the dogwood to the front of the wall, and perhaps add another smaller tree (Bloodgood JM?) in front of the wall.

Arbortitae.

This is what I was thinking. Any concerns? The reason for not doing a full privacy screen with evergreens is that would take up too much of my yard. So I could keep the 3 Miami crape myrtles, remove the 2 Natchez, and put 2 wintergreen Hetz arborviatae in between each Miami. Or I could keep the 2 Natchez and have 2 arbs on the outside of each natchez, and 2 in between.

I don't think the arborvitae would take up too much more room (circumferentially), and they'd give you privacy year round.

Plus, they're very hearty, relatively inexpensive, and grow quick.

I really don't think of crapes for privacy, and what you've got planted is going to take years and years to give you much.

mimipadv - yeah, I think as long as I go with some evergreens that stay fairly skinny I may be ok. The two I'm looking at are the Wintergreen Hetz (arborvitae) and the Spartan Junipers. It seems that both seem to grow at the same speed, and maintain similar height/width. If I have about 50 ft of space to work with, I can plant them all 5 ft apart and in this pattern:

J - W-W - J - W-W - J - W-W - J

Think that would look pretty good? I would rather not stagger them, as that would take up more yard space, even though it would provide more privacy sooner. I could then plant a couple of the crapes in front of the evergreens.

Thanks for the help so far!

parehm,

Are you in the south? Are you at least in zone 7b? If you are in the north, forget about the crape myrtles. If you are in a warm zone, definately keep the crapes. They will grow tall, fast, and they will give you privacy.

Evergreens are fine, if you don't mind having no privacy for the next 5 years. Arborvitae grows slow, trust me. Even if you buy 6 footers, and plant in the fall, you need fast tall privacy trees for now, for next summer, not years from now.

Are you allowed to raise the height on your fence at all? Mabey a lattice topper for it?

You are really exposed there, that would bother me too.

Yep, I am in North Carolina, zone 7/8. Crape myrtles are EVERYWHERE here, so I have no concerns about them not growing.

I guess one of the questions I need to answer is would I rather keep the crapes and have privacy in 1-2 years, but for only 8 months of the year? Or do I want to move things around and plant a wall of evergreens and not have much privacy for 5 years.

If I keep the crapes I may spread them out a bit more. Right now there is 10 ft. between each, but I would like to increase that to at least 12-13ft. I don't really like the look of a crape myrtle hedge where every tree is growing together. Another thought I had was keeping the "miami" crapes trimmed so that they grow a little bit underneath the "natchez" ones, as they are naturally smaller growing anyway.

The dogwood I have planted in the photos is in a spot that has about 5 ft. of land between the fence and the retaining wall. Is this too tight? If not, I may move the dogwood and put a crape myrtle there, which may even give me 14ft. between each crape myrtle.

Nope I cannot raise the height of my fence at all. My lot is sloped downward a little, so if I play fetch with my dog then my neighbors can't see me which is nice. But if we are on our porch we are very exposed.

I think the question you must answer is how long will you be in that house. Some time ago I read that the average home receives a new owner every 6 years. If you are average, go what will be most pleasing while you are in the house. If you are retired like me and your next move will be to the cemetery, then go for the long term solution.

Yeah, I'm sure I'll be in the 5-10 year range for how long I stay at this house. It is my first home. I'll probably opt for quicker privacy because of this.

Another question for you guys. Trying to figure out the best shape to mulch back there, as well as a way to hold the mulch in. It's on a hill, so when it rains hard the mulch may wash away. Should I just install some plastic edging, and mulch almost the entire area back there? That will take a lot of mulch and newspaper!