Burning bush is also highly invasive. It is a prohibited plant in Mass. It's hard to match their fall color, but they are an otherwise kind of ugly shrub (IMO). I am working on long wide privacy borders on both sides of the yard. They are mixed evergreen and deciduous and have mostly natives but there are some non-natives. I've got Dogwoods, American hazelnut, Arborvitae, Hemlock, Rhododendrons, Pieris, Spiraea, Lilacs and others included. Grey dogwood is an attractive native, fast growing, vase shaped shrub with okay fall color (mauve orangey tones) and a big plus is that when they make berries in the summer, there is a flurry of bird activity that love the berries. They don't like it super dry though. Japanese maple is very slow growing. But keep in mind that any fast growing shrub will probably need pruning to keep it under control in limited space.

Yes, bushes and shrubs are the same thing (unless you are talking politics), but shrubs is a more acceptable horticultural term. Most of Delaware seems to be a zone 7 so your plant choices are pretty broad - in fact, almost too broad to be practical to give specific suggestions, specially since you did not indicate what your sun or shade conditions are or the type of soil you are dealing with. You would be far better off visiting a good local nursery or garden center (not a Home Depot or Lowe's). Nursery staff are typically much more knowledgeable than box store employees and if you describe your growing conditions, size requirements and preferences for evergreen, flowering, etc., they will give you a bunch of choices. There are scores of flowers that return year after year - they are referred to as perennials. Again, your choices will be limited only by your specific growing situation and your imagination. Unless you are looking at dwarf varieties, most trees will grow in excess of 20 feet. Many novice gardeners are unaware of the sizes of established plants that they see - a 20-25' tree with a modest spread is not a big tree by any stretch of the imagination and is certainly suitable for smaller gardens. Or if you really want something smaller and more compact, you may be better off looking for faster growing large shrubs for your privacy screening. Again, your nursery is the best place to get suggestions for these types of plants. Be prepared to tell the staff the amount of sunlight the area gets and the quality of the soil. This will help them pick out plants that will do well under those conditions.

Ilovepink, I can get in trouble with landscaping tree recommendations because I'm fairly unknowledgeable about the subject. However, I've long thought that the Hick's Yew is both beautiful and useful as a screen. The columnar shape would lend itself to your application and the dark green needles are evergreen for year around screening. Here's a picture: http://www.millernursery.com/evergreen/taxusXMediaHicksii.htm It does fine in my dad's zone 5 yard but he's not in Colorado. Some sources have it as a zone 5 plant others claim zone 4. Colorado State U has info on this yew and other evergreen shrubs: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/PUBS/Garden/07414.html Lowe's does some comparisons for useful plants below. Be sure to check USDA hardiness zones for 'em. I understand the kind of problem you have. I have a neighbor who never seems to clean up his yard himself. He has friends who both make use of it for storage (old cars) and carry off useful items now and then (scrap lumber for firewood). Mostly, the neighbor just collects crap. I think he believes it makes him look resourceful, engaged, and busy. Steve Here is a link that might be useful: privacy screens/hedges

Where in zone 5? Do you have issues with deer? Do they all need to be evergreen, or are deciduous plants OK? As Yardvaark and PC said, having irregular spacing and more depth than a single flat line of plants will look more “natural”. I would be looking at large shrubs, so if you are in an area with acid soil, consider some of the larger Rhododendrons that can range in size from10-15’+. Look at the “iron clads” and Rhododendron maximum. If deciduous plants are OK, look at larger red-twigged dogwoods such Cornus ‘Elegantissima’ bigger selections of Hydrangea paniculata such as Pink Diamond, PeeGee, or Fire and Ice Ninebark/Physocarpus large cultivars of some of the hardiest forsythia To maximize growth rates, you want to allow your shrubs an area free of root competition from grass, so remove grass for a few feet to either side of the shrubs and mulch well. Work out a way to provide water for the first couple of seasons, especially during dry periods. If hoses don’t reach, consider filling trash cans or other lidded containers in he back of a pickup or on a garden cart that your riding mower can tow out there and siphon water out. I planted a large shrub border with mostly small plants in the fall of 2009, and within 4 growing seasons it had filled in well enough to give good blocking of sight lines where I wanted it. This thread has some photos taken during its first 4 growing season (half way down the thread) and with a mix of evergreen and deciduous it completely blocks sight lines in summer and mostly does so in winter even though it looked really sparse during its first season.