I planted these Areca palms in summer 2010 this was last summer 5 years growth along a chainlink fence

Generally speaking, fast-growing and regular pruning just go hand in hand. Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything that quickly grows to a set point and then just stops or slows down. If it grows quickly, it will keep growing quickly. Clumping bamboos take up space. Running bamboos might work, but you will just be trading one job for another, more aggrivating one (containing runners). Maybe some of those narrow, pencil-like junipers, though you may need to get several of these to get a screen and I do not know how quickly they grow.

I'm not as concerned with the height being too tall as I am with the width. Our current house backs up to a road so the viburnum growing over that side of the fence was never an issue. Our new home is going to have neighbors behind us and on the sides. In an ideal world the plant would grow tall and thick (dense) enough to give us privacy without the worry of it taking up so much space in our yard and encroaching on the neighbors yards.

We are open minded when it comes to ideas, but bamboo and palms aren't really the look we are going for. Just our personal taste.

Since you need privacy yet you say the new place has a fence, am I assuming right that it's a chain-link fence?? If so, you could put Confederate Jasmine next to it, that would eventually fill in nice and it's easy to keep in bounds. Other than that, Michael is right, if it's fast growing it's going to also be needing extensive pruning. Podocarpus (Japanese Yew) makes a nice, tight, dense hedge and it can be pruned however you like it, but it's not a fast grower.

It will be a vinyl fence, but even those don't necessarily give the privacy we are looking for. In my house now I can see into my neighbors backyard (from inside my house) due to the slope of the yard and that's with a 6' vinyl fence. It's also more of not wanting to see the houses around us. It's a new community so I don't even know what we will be dealing with in regards to the size/stories of the houses around us.

I will have to look more into the Italian cypress. How hardy are they? I had read before that they don't do well in humidity.

AW - I used them in a couple of landscape jobs in Miami where the customer wanted a Mediterranean feel to their garden. They grow just fine there.

They are very popular in central FL, too. A friend in Windermere has a couple and they're quite common in his development.

They do sound like what I'm looking for. Grows relatively quickly, but doesn't take up much width. Are there any other options that are similar and grow well in NE FL?

Southern Red Cedar has a simalar, though more conical shape. I would have mentioned it, but I didn't feel it quite met with what you were looking for. But a few mixed in with the Italian Cypress could help to add a little 'bump' to an otherwise straight line. If anything, they might be good for filling out corners.

The Southern Red Cedar looks like it gets pretty wide (unless I was looking at the wrong thing)

Red Cedars get HUGE, (both height and width) we have several on our property. There is another Juniper called Blue Point that would get wider than the Italian Cypress but not anything near the height of Cedars. They occasionally sell them at Lowes. A lot of people in the fancier landscaped neighborhoods around here have the Italian Cypress, I like them but I've seen them get pretty tall. They have a very formal look to them. I like them away from the house, though because I don't like something that gets really tall right next to the house.

The height of the blue point juniper would be great, but the width is still more than what would be ideal (8 ft from what I read). Width wise, we would prefer under 5 ft.

Podacarpus makes an amazing hedge, heres a link that I thought demonstrated how dense you can get it but you'd have to plant them close. They grow very tall and are beautiful, pest resilient as well as neat (not messy). Good luck

podocarpus-macrophyllus-podocarpus-japanese-Dino_Turf_Nursery_South ...

I live in Jacksonville, so I am not speaking from personal experience, but I have read a lot-lot-lot of negatives on areca palms. You may want to do some research before going in that direction. It looks like a tough row to hoe, so to speak. :)

Carol in Jacksonville

I ditto Podocarpus! We planted about 8 to hide the pool filter. It's so dense, you can't see anything through it. I keep it cut to 5 ft but it will go much higher. It grows vertical, but not very wide so it looks neat and tidy. You do have to lightly prune it but the side branches are flexible and easy to shear off.

Thank you for the podocarpus idea. Are they fast growers like viburnum? Any idea on the cost?

Had to google viburnum as it doesn't grow down here in 10b. Wow that's gorgeous. Podocarpus is said to be moderate grower but it went from 3 to 6 feet in a year for me. It gets plenty of water and afternoon sun in the spot it's in. I paid $13 for a 3 ft shrub. It's evergreen, which is important if you need it for privacy. Google podocarpus hedge to see the different ways it's used, I prefer it to be a bit spaced and not so tightly sheared. Looks so fluffy. But the closely spaced and tightly sheared look is a nice and neat look too.

We went with podocarpus. Thank you for all of the suggestions.

That looks great. I'd love to see an update in a year. Please post a pic.

Looks very nice! You should have good privacy when those grow in :} Are you going to do the sides, too?

We decided to hold off on the sides for now. The fence is 6 ft high so it should give us the privacy we are looking for. The back slopes down quite a bit due to a drainage easement so that really eliminated the privacy there.