This belongs in the Trees forum.

My vote, and some really don't like it and others love it, would be a grouping of marcescence oaks like Crimson Spire or Chimney Fire. I swear I see more grass than arbs so I certainly wouldn't go that route as you should have a slew of great coniferous choices in your area. I think Lacey meant the conifers forum.

Crepe Myrtle, Lagerstroemia sp., is a flowering deciduous small tree that fits your description pretty well. It might grow in your area. Not sure. Chamaecyparis is a genus of conifers with a good number of species and cultivars that would fit your size requirements.

thanks for the suggestions. Had to look up marcescence oaks. I see those around here. What happens to the dead retained leaves when new growth appears in the spring? Would seem like those things would have to fall off, plus they are what I consider large leaves. then there is the size issue. Will look further into them, tho.

Crepe myrtle is interesting suggestion, as I think those are pretty attractive prior to their flowers turning brown. My concern over time would be branch spread, tho i will look at the specific species you mention.

As far as the trees forum, I also have it there.But when i was creating this i was given the option of having it available in up to 3 forums.

Forget crape myrtles.....they do not thrive in the PNW. Chamaecyparis obtusa, Hinoki cypress, is not an unreasonable suggestion but you would need to select carefully to find a cultivar that will produce the size and shape you want....and before you are 85 years old :-) You don't have a lot of space to work with and very narrowly growing conifers are not all that plentiful, which is why one does see so many arborvitaes used in this manner - they are an excellent, narrow evergreen screening plant with a moderate growth rate. But well beloved by deer :-)

whaas' suggestion for the columnar oaks is not bad. Nor would be using something like Carpinus betulus 'Frans Fontaine', a narrowly columnar European hornbeam. I use this tree frequently in landscape designs for this purpose: it maintains a tightly columnar habit, it is a trouble-free tree (no pest or disease issues), it has a very dense, upward growing branching habit so that it provides almost as much privacy screening in winter as it does in leaf. It will drop leaves but not tons and easily manageable.

Another possibility is Italian buckthorn, Rhamnus alaternus. This is a small leaved evergreen shrub that tends to be taller than wide: 10-15' tall and maybe 6' wide. It can be pruned as desired and will grow in both sun and shade and is quite drought tolerant once established. There is also a variegated form available if you like that effect.

You are located in an area with the largest percentage of commercial growing nurseries of anywhere in the country. While these tend to be wholesale only, local retail nurseries and garden centers should have an excellent selection.....better than you could find just about anywhere else......of suitable screening contenders in just a few short weeks. I'd be doing some serious plant window shopping before I made up my mind :-)

Thanks for your suggestions. Deer aren't an issue. Yes - we have nurseries all around here. I haven't hit them yet....thought I would first plumb the GW forums for suggestions, then go armed with a list. Plus, 'shopping' the forums is easier at 10pm. :)

The other thing that I face is obviously removing what I have. Cutting them down isn't the issue -- a daunting task if i DIY, and expensive. But is a stump grinder available that can get on top of my wall?

Plus, I have to convince my wife to embrace the idea of getting rid of what we have that is an effective screener and replace it with something that won't be for years. But don't think GW can help with that... :)

How large is your yard? Is there enough room to plant a tree in front of the retaining wall? You need screening from those windows but it wouldn't have to be lined up on the fence line.

Jenniferbos - an interesting thought to plant in front of the wall. but the yard isn't all that deep and would prefer not to take up yard space (at least at this point) with trees. Plus, once they get big, the area across the wall behind them wouldn't be all that useful. Not that it is all that useful now, of course. Plus, i gain an immediate 4-5' in height of the screen if I plant across the top of wall.

Doug - thanks for going to the effort of showing me a pic. Pic are always really helpful. Looks great on screen, and i like the thought of having just 3. Realistically, however, i don't see any way of finding a tree with that kind of growth habit that also doesn't similarly spread over the fence to the neighbor's yard. And it is deciduous looking too.

Can you fix the part of my wall on the left that has collapsed (due in part to tree roots but mostly poor drainage when i built it) so I don't have to? :)

I looked into the hornbeam. I really like that idea, and once I saw a few pics realized I have seen and liked those before IRL. the leaves are small (and would be a ton of them tho allegedly manageable). but in looking into mature height, those suckers get really tall...pretty wide too. Long term may be too much for the narrowest of my area, which is the majority.

Thanks -- appreciate all the ideas.

The trees shown are Ligustrum japonica recurvifolia, which are evergreen. They top out at approx. 15 ft in height.

http://mgonline.com/media/Images/l/ligustrum01.jpg

interesting idea. thanks. But everywhere I look they are listed as hedges (which isn't necessarily bad), not trees.

Tree form

I wouldn't worry about grinding the stumps. Cut the trees down, cut the stumps flush with the ground, and then paint the cut cambium with an herbicide that won't migrate into the soil or have long term effects. Then drill holes in the stump and put some fertilizer there to feed bacteria and encourage rot. Replant offset slightly from the original plantings. Or use sturdy ramps if the stone wall is stable enough to get a stump grinder to the top of the wall.

Consider also some of the larger Hydrangea paniculata cultivars limbed up to tree form. Deciduous rather than evergreen, but the dense form and remaining tan bloom head can contribute to winter screening.

Appreciate the thought on the stump treatment. and yes, i was thinking similarly about the ramp and wall stability -- not sure. i think grinders are pretty big unless there is a 'portable' version for such circumstances. Unfortunately, the flowering pears have some pretty good sized roots to deal with, so that will take some digging.

You have alot of great ideas here and will likely have more when you see the plants in person. Another thing to keep in mind is to avoid aggressive surface rooters for this application.

If you do like the more course look of the marcescence oaks I honestly wouldn't worry about the leaves. Its organic material that will blow in the wind (more so as they are larger) and decompose.

I had a ton of them at my last property and I don't ever recall saying "wow what will I ever do with these leaves?" I don't even recall seeing a leaf or two in a conifer.

This might have been mentioned. (I didn't read everything.) If you had a groundcover below the trees, there stands a good chance that many leaves would disappear into it as they sift down, and then just convert to "mulch" over time. I don't think it looks good to have shrubs below the trees as it seems everything is competing visually with everything else. It could either be a tree form with groundcover below, or a shrub form that is allowed to cover all the ground space. Whatever plant (tree or shrub) you pick, if it's reasonably narrow, I wouldn't worry about some if it crossing the property line as that's just the way life is with limited space yards. It happens everywhere. The neighbor has the right to cut back to the property line. Also, I wouldn't worry that a plant is labeled necessarily as "tree" or "shrub". For small trees and large shrubs this is a massive "grey area." Many plants can fit either category depending on how you prune them.

If you go the columnar or fastigiate route with your trees the list below is a good starting place, though it's far from exhaustive.

Carpinus betulus fastigiata

Quercus x 'Regal Prince'

Pyrus calleryana 'Chanticleer' (now listed on many invasive lists)

Ginkgo biloba fastigiata

Thuja plicata fastigiata

Tilia americana 'Sentry'

Fagus x 'Dawyck's'

Acer rubrum 'Bowhall' (pictured below)

Quercus 'Regal Prince'

Just wanted to mention that Carpinus betulus 'Fastigiata' is far from fastigiate :-) Once mature it forms a very rounded crown, very much like a plump gumdrop. Still narrower than tall but at up to 30' wide, not exactly very columnar!! That's why I suggested the cultivar 'Frans Fontaine' - it will remain very narrow, seldom exceeding 10' in width, and at about 25-30' tall.

Thanks! in addition to all the great ideas, i'm expanding my vocabulary, too - marcescence, fatigiate -- awesome! :) The pics are appreciated. "Regal Prince" looks really good. Tho as noted, i too tired of the years spent raking leaves to want to keep that up. I got pretty fed up this year. The problem is, there are some very compelling deciduous options. That said, one i am going to look into further is the columnar (fastigiate) hornbeam options. Those just look really cool i think, and the leaves are pretty small. However, am also going to look further into the cypress. They tend to maybe be the best match to my wish list.