Some varieties of Camellia can make a beautiful hedge.

I don't know about zone 4 though.

If you want an edible hedge, maybe check out Carmine Jewel cherry (and others like it). These are as tasty as they are attractive. Cherries in the form of a bush.

zone 4 is going to be challenging, maybe yew trees, if you want a tall hedge.

If you are a solid zone 4 I would not recommend Thuja 'Green Giant'. In tough winters they won't make it through. Thuja 'Hetz Wintergreen' or Thuja 'American Pillar' would be better options that would fit your bill. Both will take a decent amount of time to block the view unless you can find a local supplier with 7-8' trees. Don't settle for Emerald Green Arbs as they will end up splaying open.

This^ needed to be said. 'Green Giant' is not a reliable plant in Z4. Lots of browning, far beyond the usual winter shade of arbs....leading to death in some cases. Not a good bet.

Those other arb choices would be good though.

We are going through the same situation as you. A 3 story apartment building is currently under construction that will be looking down into our backyard. Yuck! We are in N Alabama zone 7 and went with Emerald Green Arborvitae. We got lucky and got an amazing price on 10' - 12' trees. They are scheduled to be installed this weekend or early next week and are trying to figure out how close we should plant them to give us a solid hedge eventually.

I guess I'd consider deciduous trees for this, though (sounds like I'm over-analyzing here) since the trees are right on the property line, I don't want the neighbors behind us to have to deal with leaves dropping on their side of the yard when the leaves drop each year. For now, I will look into the Hetz Wintergreens and the American Pillars. I do hope to buy 7-8' trees (or 10'-12' would be awesome!) because I don't want to wait for the privacy. Would planting about 4' apart be a good spacing to create a solid hedge?

anyone note that she said 3 to 5 feet wide ... at 15 feet.. my GGs were nearly 10 feet wide ...

thuja degroots spire comes to mind .. and no snow load issues like some thuja ... monrovia link says zone appropriate ..

https://www.google.com/search?q=thuja+degroots+spire&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

but to be sure ... conifers are trees.. and none of them stop growing at some magical height ...

kinda sped read this all.. is the planting area on the sun side of the fence ... rather than say;... the north side???

ken

The trees will be planted on the north side of the fence. I plan to shape them as a hedge and hopefully can keep them at at 12'-15' height with a trimmed 3'-5' spread. I see the DeGroots Spire seems to fit that size so I'll see if I can find that locally. Another tree that I've just come across on a local supplier's inventory list is a Juniper Blue Arrow. What would be the pros/cons with the Blue Arrow?

Generally, plants in the shadow of a 6' fence may be slow to get established.

Juniper Blue Arrow is a selection of Juniperus scopulorum, which is a western dry land shrub. It doesn't do well in areas that have more humidity, so whether that is a good choice for you or not will depend on where you are in zone 4. Colorado or Wyoming would be fine, but in NH it would probably be short-lived due to foliar diseases.

Check out Juniperus virginianus 'Taylor'--tall and very, very, narrow with none of the foliar problems of the scopulorums. I think Sooner Plant Farm may be the only retail seller.

Hi-I'm just getting back to this now and some decisions have to be made soon! :) I've looked into all trees discussed on this tread and I am zoned in on the Thuja American Pillar, though I am having a really hard time finding them anywhere, including online (I did find 18" seedlings for sale, but that's all). My husband suggested asking a local nursery if they could bring some larger trees in from the main nursery in GA that grows them, but I'm thinking that's a long stretch. Does anyone have an input on where I could find these trees?

Don't know that cultivar, but the Georgia thing raised a red flag for me. Wisconsin is FULL of nurseries growing a range of arborvitae. Maybe look for the cultivar 'Hetz Wintergreen', AKA 'Wintergreen'...that will do roughly the same as the 'American Pillar' and should be easier to find. I would surely not go through a Georgia grower for this most common of Wisconsin plants.

Trees growing in Georgia might have trouble being suddenly transported to Zone 4 cold.

Thuja is a tree more then a shrub.

Have you thought of Yew? Maybe Taxus canadensis?