Our kids' dogs occasionally chew on the acorns that blanket our neighborhood and contain toxic gallotannins (yes, oaks are on the poisonous plant list). Various parts of our dwarf peach trees, Texas mountain laurel, groundsel, asclepias, baptisia, and I'm sure others we are not even aware of are also toxic to varying degrees. Pets rarely consume enough (if any at all) to make them sick, but is good to be aware should they ever show symptoms... and to educate kids. With awareness, don't know that oleander would be significantly more dangerous than these others, but does merit some special consideration as "probably the most toxic plant in Texas" (AgriLIFE). TAMU Extension maintains a good list of toxic plants for the livestock folks on Plants of Texas Rangelands.

Thanks for the kind comments, Marie! Here are a few photos, splaker. I hope that this helps you with your project. Before I started this project in fall 2009, I think, I tried to web search mixed shrub borders and didn't find much that inspired me. But I knew I had seen in person similar things planted various places, so I had some ideas in mind and then just winged it. My goals were to block or distract from some of the sightlines to a work area from the main entrance drive. We had just cleared a wooded area to have more sun, so I was starting from a blank slate. I knew I wanted a mix of evergreens (for winter interest) and deciduous shrubs, vines and perennials for colorful and contrasting foliage and flowers. I know I have more space than the typical suburban yard, but something similar to this could be done on a scaled down basis. June of 2010 after planting fall 2009. 3 kinds of evergreens (2 or 3 of each randomly spread down the bed length - Thuja 'Sunkist', Thuja 'Techny' and a slower growing cultivar of blue spruce that I will probably eventually have to remove due to large size or budworm damage), a few small pagoda dogwoods, a couple of Hydrangea paniculata (Quickfire and Pinky Winky), a Coppertina Ninebark, two Spicebush (Lindera benzoin), a few rhodies, some winterberry holly, and a few perennials. Before planting, I laid down a bunch of composted manure. After planting the various shrubs, I mulched heavily for moisture and weed control, first putting down cardboard and then about 6" of loose mulch that packed down to 4" or so. Perennials were planted around the edges after the main shrubs were in by cutting through the cardboard. I tried to leave enough room between the evergreens and shrubs to allow them to grow to just grow together overtime, but not be super crowded, so it was rather sparse the first year or two. I didn't do formal plans, but knew the ballpark size of the mature shrubs and the bed size, and once I bought the plants, I plopped them down in the bed and moved them around until I liked the layout, and then got out the shovel. I didn't pick out specific varieties ahead of time, but went around to local nurseries during fall sales knowing that I wanted rhodies, varied colored medium evergreens, etc. and chose from what they had available (that met my needs) to keep expenses down. Looking east from the middle Looking NE from the SW side (June 2010) In December of 2010 after one full growing season looking west from the dirt pile just visible on the right (east) side of the photo above After 4 growing seasons with some added perennials but not much in the way of added shrubs it is fairly full. Late October 2013 June 2014 looking East along the front of the bed. Looking down the back side as fall color is just beginning to develop - no perennials since this is the work area side. Here's a photo in taken late November 2014 that was from a similar angle to the second photo at the top. There have been a few plants over the years that haven't worked out due mostly to the voles that are a curse of my gardening existence, but for the most part I am quite happy with the bed. It's at my husband's shop so I don't get down to it as regularly as I might wish, but it doesn't need more than a few of hours of weeding per season and some tidying up and cutting back in the fall as long as I keep the mulch in good shape. I add more mulch every couple of years where there is space between plants. I've also added edging, a combination of the rolled edge black plastic edging from a big box store and recycled bricks lining the inside edge of the plastic (visible 2 and 3 photos up) to run the lawn mower wheels on so no edge whacking needed. Also, a couple of comments on some plants mentioned in previous comments. I have 3 Viburnum plicatums, one of which is about as old as the bed above and might be mariesiii but might be another selection. They bloom well every year (we got to -22 last winter and near that most winters) so you should be OK unless you get a whole lot colder than that. They all have great fall color. Burning bushes can seed around to wild areas, so I wouldn't recommend them for that reason, but they are also boring green blobs most of the year. Blueberries are a good replacement if you have acid soil with spring flowers, summer berries for you or the birds, and nice red to maroon autumn color. I ripped out my one Viburnum 'Blue Muffin' because it didn't bloom well, had no fall color in my garden, and was infested with Viburnum beetle. There are quite a number of medium sized/slower growing Thuja cultivars that won't get giant (as well as other conifers that you could check out on the conifer forum.) I found 3 Thuja types in good sizes in local nurseries in my quite rural area, so you have a good chance of finding some. If you have a lot of deer they may not be a good choice unless you want to spray them in winter. We have deer, but are rural enough that they don't bother the gardens for the most part. I really like the various variegated shrub dogwoods and the size of the larger ones will work well for you. Coppertina is has been a great shrub for me, but if they are prone to mildew in your area, there are others that are less mildew prone in tests. I'd love to hear how your project works out!

We are thinking that we will place them on the ground (on top of screening and landscape fabric) and level them out. Then cover the base with large river rock to weight them down. We could also drill pilot holes on the front and back side of the base to allow us to screw them into the ground with anchors. We could use rectangular planters in front to hold decorative grasses. We would need deeper bases than shown below but this idea. Planters and river rock to disguise the base of the screen. We like the wider board look as it's cleaner.

@Fori -Thanks so much, I think that is a great solution for the bay area. I think we may end up going that route :) All of the fences in our neighborhood are supposed to be 6 ft but somehow most seem to be 8 or even 10 :) I was reticent to ask, because we get along really well and I didn't want to make them feel pressured to do something to the shared fence that they didn't want to, but I think that is probably the best idea!