I forgot to mention....I believe we are in Zones 7b-8a.

I'm not an expert, but I just did some research on Cryptomeria. What I found is" "Robust in grow zones 5-9 and bred to develop at a fast pace, the Radicans Cryptomeria grows at an amazing rate of 3-5 feet per year. Maturing to heights of 35-45 feet with an approximate spread of under 20 feet..."

Both trees are going to get very large within a decade. So you have to ask yourself how much to you want to block out the sun as well as the neighbors. You probably need a lesser number on the sides of the house. Would it be better to have a planting of both? More interesting. The Cryptomeria is more dense and the Deodar Cedar is more graceful.

I think the large trees in the back ground are Cryptomeria, but I am not sure.

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Here is another photo with it.

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There is a lot of good information from reliable sources on the Deodar Cedar. Here are two. http://hort.ufl.edu/database/documents/pdf/tree_fact_sheets/ceddeoa.pdf

https://extensiongardener.ces.ncsu.edu/extgardener-deodar-cedar-adds-grace-to-landscape/

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Thanks, that's an interesting idea to incorporate both. Perhaps a line of one type in the back and another type in front, staggered?

Are the front and back yards in the same plane along the right side property line? Who owns/controls the property between yours and the "upstairs" neighbors' fences? Is yours a one or two-story house? How are the groundcovers organized? If you can show the applicable portion of the plan, that would be helpful. (BTW, I'd be killing any weeds NOW and again before the planting occurs, so as to minimize resprouting.)

Yes the front and back yards are in the same plane along the right side, there is just a fence separating the two. Without the fence it would be contiguous. The home is 2 stories. Attached is a photo of the front of the home from the street so you can see the hill on the right side. The area between our property and the homes above us is considered common space and no one does anything with it--another reason we want to block it out.

I would mix them. You can be very strategic about placement. Think about where are you going to be in the yards and what are the lines of view.

When I bought my house decades ago, my backyard was surrounded by a hedge of Canadian Hemlock. I didn't want it to grow to its normal mature height (over 40 feet) so I kept it pruned. Really loved it, but it was time consuming and getting expensive. Then the neighbors on either side and I decided to remove them. (I kept the ones on the back.) On one side where we both have patios, the neighbor planted a short span of arborvitae between the patios and I had other shrubs planted more for interest further back long the property line.

With the Hemlocks gone, it was no longer a monolith. After we finished, we were both happy and my neighbor told me he never realized how oppressive the Hemlocks were.

The other side was a driveway, so we just opened the front up and put in a privacy fence between the houses.

Deodar cedars can get massively large!! Much better for a park-like setting than a residential garden. And most named cultivars will be dwarf or very compact forms that will be more or less useless for any screening purposes. But Crypts come in a very wide range of shapes and sizes and outside of their native environment, will never come remotely close to achieving the size potential of the cedars. I would stick with them and maybe a selection of two or three different forms.

I did a design plan for a very similar but much smaller situation a season or two ago and we used Cryptomeria 'Sekkan Sugi' for privacy screening and it will never get too large or outgrow its position.

How tall do the Sekkan Sugi get? From what I can tell, we would need between 18-25 feet of height for privacy from the upper decks of the homes above us.

30-35' or so? But not in a big hurry. And I am not necessarily suggesting that cultivar for your purpose. The creamy yellow foliage may well scorch in AL sun :-) But something like 'Cristata' or 'Yoshino' or 'Radicans' or 'Elegans' would work equally as well. And probably grow a little faster also.

For best growth and performance, this tree needs adequate water. Not something I'd consider to be very drought tolerant.

Do you know anything about "Cedrus Deodara Dark Blue Angel"? That is what the nursery we are using currently has in stock. I haven't given the go-ahead to order yet. I know that some cultivars are smaller than others, so want to be sure I am considering all options. The size of deodars has been a concern for me as well. While I want privacy, I don't want it to overwhelm our lot.

Do the neighbors above you have a view past your house? If you did plant LARGE trees, would you be blocking their view from anything?

They do have a view past my house. We have a large open natural area off to the left of the house. I don't want to upset them by completely blocking, but I also value my privacy and don't feel it is their "right" to be able to see into our yard for the sake of their view past my yard--if that makes sense?

The least desirable way to "mix" them would be as one type in a back row and another type in a front row. The second least desirable way would be as a willy nilly jumble. The most useful way to mix them would be as strategic groups, which might be something like larger plants near the back of the property, medium plants next, skinnier plants alongside the house, and other type trees correlating with the front yard landscape plan. My drawing doesn't purport to show accuracy or propose any actual method of organizing, but is just a scheme that illustrates grouping.

I'm not sure that cedar is the best choice for you :-) First, it is a cultivar of Cedrus libani (not deodara) and is a quite narrow, weeping form, so how much screening it will provide is up for some debate. And it hasn't been around long enough to get a firm idea on ultimate height.....but most sources are quoting 12-15' but with an intermediate growth rate so potentially could get a lot taller.

Have you looked at viburnum we have sections along the back of our property. They can grow very tall (18 ft. or more) if you want them or trim them to wanted height or stagger the heights in sections. They also have small white flowers with a wonder sweet aroma, in clusters. It is very hardy and will grow in your area.

Not all viburnums have a sweet fragrance....many stink. And fewer still are evergreen (so contribute little to privacy screening) or will grow to that height.

Most viburnums are everygreen and I would check in your area.

Of the 150 different species of viburnum, only a handful are evergreen. So not "most" by any stretch of the imagination.

Yardvaark, I love that idea...would you be able to identify some types of trees that could represent those groupings? That looks very neat.

Because it's a scheme and not a rendering based on any plan, those blobs of "paint" don't represent specific trees. They are just ideas that leads to research of possible contenders. Some of the trees it could be have been discussed ... those at the far back could be a small grouping of the very large deodar cedar. Those forward of it could be some kind of cryptomeria. Ahead of that could be viburnum or arborvitae or ?? Maybe there's some crape myrtle in front of the perpendicular fencing. It could be some kind limbed up flowering or evergreen tree opposite the front yard and maybe a regular, large deciduous shade tree near the street. There are all kinds of possibilities that would come as a result of someone making a plan and then plugging the optimal tree varieties into it. You could also take the idea to the Trees or your regional forums and ask if anyone has ideas on what specific trees would work for your area.

Another opinion I would ask of the group....if this is an ~8,000sq ft hill, would you contract this out or plan to do it yourself?

Also, our initial plan was to use 15 gal trees for the plantings. Would you recommend this size or smaller? I'm not well-versed in the pros and cons of either option.

Another option that was mentioned to us by a landscape designer was using Bracken's Brown Beauty Magnolia trees along with Viburnum Awabuki 'Chindo' as the main sources of privacy towards the top of the hill with some more ornate colorful plantings towards the bottom. Any opinions on these two particular types of plants?

Do you get much snow? Evergreen magnolias tend to get heavily damaged wth any signficant snow loads. Large branches of mine broke off just this February with a late but not huge snowstorm....I only had about 8" total. And the viburnum is a wonderful plant but unlikely to reach a height that would provide the sort of screening you are looking for. Might be better to use that further down the slope.

I agree with gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) that Cedrus Deodara Dark Blue Angel is not not what you want. It is meant to be a specimen.

I think adding viburnum to the mix would be a plus.

I would buy as large as you can, at lease 15 gal. Here is a great article on buying tree size. http://www.oclandscape.com/ocblog/archives/2006/04/a_guide_to_cont.html I have read more than once, though that the benefit of buying larger diminishes over time. How long do you want to wait? Another thing to consider is that the closer the tree is to the area you want privacy, the more privacy you get for the same amount of height.

The Magnolias in the picture below would also be nice in the mix. Maybe in the side yard along the driveway nearer the garage. Or in your back yard near a patio.

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Ilex x attenuata 'Fosteri' Foster Holly is another plant that makes a good privacy hedge. It grows to a height of 15–25' and a spread of 8–12' at maturity. I don't know how big these were when they were planted, but the lower limbs were cut (and wrapped) so that the brick wall would show. Pretty impressive and I'm sure an expensive installation. But the plus is that they won't grow to more than 25 feet.

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The problem with plants like cryptomeria is that they are conical and although they grow together at ground level, there are gaps at the top--and that's exactly where you need the screen to be solid. You'll need to mix different types of trees to get a good cover.

The trees in the first photo are doing a dandy job of screening. Emulate that, and let the hill grow wild and natural.

gardengal48, we very rarely get snow...if we do it's maybe once a year and it's melted off by the next day. I agree about the viburnum likely not being an effective screen for what we need, since they seem to top out at 10-15 feet and we need about 18-20. You mentioned using it further down the slope--are you thinking it could be effective further down the slope when mixed in with something else higher up the slope like Magnolia trees, staggered (20-30 feet mature height)? Or do you mean just to have a nice tree to look at without an screening effect?

AnnaDuke, I'm not sure what sunsails are?

tatts, I've thought the same thing when looking at photos of hedges with cryptomeria or other conical shaped trees. They seem great if you're blocking the ground floor of a neighbor at the same level as you, but a different ballgame when they're located above you and looking down into your yard. I'm wondering if staggering magnolia and viburnum would be an effective screen, or if it would be too monotonous? Especially if extending the entire length of the hill (front and back yards). From what I've read, it seems the Bracken's Brown Magnolia has a moderate growth rate with mature height about 20-30 feet (we would need at least 18-20ft if I've calculated correctly).

Some of the claims of plant height and spreads I'm sure are coming from published sizes, which are "snapshots" of plant sizes at X number of years in the future. They are not final sizes at which the plant stops growing. Foster Holly, I can certify will get taller than 25'. It could be kept lower if someone wanted to trim it.

I really like the idea of incorporating Chindo Viburnum if it has a chance of growing close to the 20-25 ft mark. Have you seen them grow that high if left on their own?

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One combined with a pergola!

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Here is a spec sheet on Foster Holly. http://hort.ufl.edu/database/documents/pdf/tree_fact_sheets/ileattb.pdf

Looks like Viurnum Chindo grows to about 12 feet.

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/all/viburnum-awabuki-chindo/

Are you aware if there is a native cedar tree that grows in your area? I would always look to natives first.

When I did a similar planting for privacy, I ran soaker hoses at the trunks of the cedars so that I could “push” the growth during dry times.

" native cedar tree "

That 'native cedar tree' is really a juniper, Juniperus virginiana, and is considered almost a weed in many areas where it is native. Natives are not always best :-)