I had written off bamboo, but I'm considering it again en lieu of installing motorized drop down privacy screens on my patio cover that I have been quoted from $3.5K to $7K to install. For much less than $3K should I be able to put some kind of containers against approximately 30 ft of fence pictured at the beginning of this thread that will allow me to plant super-fast growing running bamboo, while also making it physically impossible for them to get out of control? I would like something that will be low maintenance and will grow to a height of 15 feet or more and be thick enough to block the view down into my patio from the neighbor's upstairs window within a short period of time. I need something that grows pretty much straight up without much of of it hanging down or sticking out into the limited space of the patio. Can they be planted in the largest containers to start or do they have to be started in small containers and repeatedly transferred to larger and larger containers as they grow larger? I'm thinking of getting beds raised at least 3 feet so it will raise the planting level so that they have a head start to reaching the height required over the 6 ft fence required for the privacy screen effect. Container This will be in the Sacramento, California area.

btw embo ... that looks like a winter lawn in my MI .... not necessarily underfed ... at this time of year ... what i look for.. is weeds ... and that lawn is prime ... its been cared for in that regard.. which makes me thinks it has also been properly fed ... OP ... do keep in mind ... most conifers.. trees... do not need to be fed ... they are never HUNGRY ... but we insure the soil is fertile.. and take action if need me ... which IMHO ... is rare ... and in fact.. when your plants get going.. and actually put roots out under the lawn ... and if that lawn is fertd.. these things will get more than enough of anything they may need ... finally ... lawn watering.. is rarely proper watering for new transplants... do not rely on such .... though.. once fully established ... they should be rather free range ... refer to watering at the link ... ken https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

I'm with Mad_gallica and Kentrees that you should move the gate so it isn't centered on what you don't want to look at. My mixed shrub border had slightly different goals than yours, but the general idea was the same - a way to block an unattractive view. My area had a height limit of 20' or so since we have solar panels behind this, so my particular plants might not work for your use, but having a green wall of only one or two species in such an informal rural setting looks really artificial to my eye, so you might want to consider spacing the trees you have out to closer to their ultimate width, and filling in rows (staggered front to back - see photo 2) with different evergreen species/selections and denser deciduous trees & shrubs so it looks less formal. As someone suggested above, you can do groups or clumps of plants with different heights and species. (Add some bamboo screening - comes in rolls - on and above the fence for now to block between the trees until things fill in a bit.) I used three staggered rows of plants with repetition of several types of evergreens down the length. The bed is about 15' deep and 60' long give or take 10'. Looking NE from the SW side (June 2010 - planted October 2009) In December of 2010 after one full growing season looking west from the dirt pile just visible on the right (east) edg e of the photo above After 4 growing seasons with some added perennials but not much in the way of added shrubs it is fairly full. Late October 2013 Looking down the back side as fall color is just beginning to develop - no perennials since this is the work area side. Here's a photo in taken late November 2014 that was from a similar angle to the second photo at the top. Remember that vehicle traffic on a drive needs less height to block it from view, while you will want more height where the barn is. So perhaps center one spruce on the barn from your most frequent viewing spot and place the other to block the barn from the next-most viewed spot. Randomly space the arborvitaes along the remainder of the length, with some clumped or staggered front to back, again thinking of their ultimate size and your viewing spots. Then get some large shrubs/small trees to add in to hide the view of the drive, considering how densely branched they will be, whether there are flowers or colored foliage or interesting winter features. So something like one of the really large rhododendrons like Roseum elegans might work to block views of the drive (evergreen, flowers, and dense) while you could put a lilac (densely twiggy in winter, spring flowers) slightly offset from one of the evergreens and in a different plane, either set closer to the fence or farther from the fence than the evergreens.

Matrices, I am not sure if you are still considering skyrocket junipers, but if you are, find another narrow evergreen to use instead. Skyrockets are a cultivar of J. scopulorum, which is a western tree that doesn't do well in humid areas. Unless it is in a relatively dry area it is likely to get fungal diseases on the foliage and so even if it doesn't die directly from them, the view won't be pretty. I also suggest that you check to see if there are healthy purple leafed sand cherries in your area since they are often denuded of leaves due to insects or foliage diseases in humid areas. I honestly can't offer a lot of positive suggestions of specific plants since I don't know what will grow well in your area. I do have a couple of general observations/suggestions to offer for you consider. The last photo you offered with the various labeled plants has a very different feel from the more regular look of the strictly alternating plants of the photos you posted near the beginning of the thread or the formal look of Yardvaark's mockup of a hedge of all one species. Figure out which look you like and then use that. I am glad to see that you are using at least some repetition since even a bed that has more irregularly placed plants looks more pleasing with repetition rather than one of each. Another suggestion is to at least consider whether having screen on or by the deck might be more useful to provide screen on that level, which would free you to be less restricted in your plant choices in the fence bed since the fence blocks the next yard from ground level. For instance, would having an obelisk or three with vines in that corner of the deck work, or planting a bushier tree closer to the deck that eventually would be limbed up provide both seasonal shade and a visual screen for the neighbor's yard? Also, there is a Detroit area designer, Deborah Silver, who often deals with narrow side areas that need screening. I will see if I can find a way to filter her blog posts (Dirt Simple) to get just a listing of the ones with your issue so you can see some images of solutions that both provide the screening and are well designed since you have mentioned not finding inspiration photos that address your needs. Edited to add: I just searched for the term screen. So some posts won't apply, but there are a bunch that do show narrow beds planted to provide screening. Dirt Simple screens