Give them some time and the trees will naturally reach for the light and fill in. Planting more will only crowd them and make them fight over the light, earth, and water. I suspect you are getting no response because to most people, your existing degree of privacy appears sublime. Lovely green space, enjoy.

Thanks for all of the advice guys. @ davidrt28 - thanks for the advice and ordering info @ kato_b , tsugajunkie - the larger 5 gallon plants don't look as bad. there is still some green, but they don't look that great. I actually started planting the smaller trees further back from the road because I was worried about the salt spray. I think they're around 28ft from the road and have those hedges in between the road and small trees. I thought that would have been enough protection... also before they even started salting last fall, they were starting to turn orangish. @ davidrt28 - nope.. I didn't fertilize them @ tsugajunkie - thanks for that link, I may have to look into a different species what a discouragement ... it would have been nice to see the majority survive after all the time and money I put into the project I'm thinking the best thing to do is look for several species that's resistant to salt spray and add a mix of trees This post was edited by duke90 on Thu, May 2, 13 at 0:53

Hi! We live in Brisbane, and I would like to plant something all the way along our western fence, which is in shade most of the day. I am looking for advice for what to plant that will provide some privacy. The morning shade is fairly light (with some patchy bits of direct sunlight) due to nearby taller trees. It is in heavier shade all of the afternoon. We have a 3 story block of units on our western boundary, and so the sun disappears behind this building. The soil is well drained, and deeper down has some clay. But the plants will most likely be in a raised bed in fresh soil, as we are going to build a retaining wall. We have planted Lilly pilly resilience along the back fence and about 3 metres down the western side, but then it starts to get shadey and I have noticed these few trees are already slower to grow so was contemplating a different variety of plant for the rest of the wall. Something fast growing would be ideal. Photo taken was at 12.30pm April 19. Do you think I should persist will Lilly Pilly? What about Camellias? What about Summerscent? Im not really a big fan of bamboo. Thanks!!! Lou

You are kind of approaching this backwards. Decide on the type of plant you want and then determine how large a container you will need to accommodate it. Most ornamental grasses are not evergreen and will need to be cut back annually to allow for new growth. So you will need to be prepared to go without your privacy screening for several months each year. Grasses also expand outwardly and need to be rejuvenated by division on a pretty frequent basis, which is also something else to keep in mind. I seldom leave OG's in a container for more than a single growing season as they just get too darn big to shift easily!! Something like an aborvitae/thuja may work better but will also require a larger container. I'd figure at least a 10G container per tree to start, so about 16" across and about the same depth. And that will only work for a couple of seasons as well. You will need to lift the tree and root prune periodically and refresh the potting soil......about every 3 years.