Thanks Yardvaark! That looks great. I could easily do some crape myrtles for the center. Couple of things: - I can't do that large of a bed on the right. There is a slight ditch in my backyard for water to run through, and that bed would be right in the way and my mulch would be carried away each storm. I could do two trees in one bed, then another small bed for another tree and break it up with some grass in between. - Would it look tacky to have 2 dogwoods in the center with 2-3 crape myrtles for the small flowering trees? Trying to reuse some of my existing plants, but don't have to. - Any examples of tall, skinny trees for the corners? I don't know of any trees that could fit in those areas besides some evergreens (emerald arb, spartan juniper). And I think pine trees would get too large for those areas. I agree with the ground cover, and that was in my plans once I found a design I liked for privacy. Thanks again for the help!

Your back alley entry - backyard combo is a unique hybrid of standard house layout. The landscaping will have to adjust accordingly. This makes the space designed and intended for your private outdoor use semi-public. I am gathering the privacy you most need is for the back screen porch and the back patio slab. First off, no you may not plant a tall hedge along the alley to make the backyard private, mainly because you can't block the view of traffic in the alley. If it is one way I might consider it. Now I want to see if I can work your HOA fence to your advantage. If you like this idea it might be worth haggling with the HOA about it if need be. Start the fence on the house corner on the left behind the screened porch. Put a gate in it and run it across the side yard. Head halfway to the alley, turn left and run the fence to the edge of the driveway. Your screen porch and back patio are now enclosed in their own room. Leave enough space, four to six feet, on both sides of the fence for planting. Ditch the tiny beds between the screen porch, patio slab and drive. They are useless. Leave the driveway side of your new backyard enclosure fully open to the drive. Privacy for this side will be planted across the driveway along the property line. If the HOA refuses this fence layout, the same general line of planting beds will do the same. Grasses are a good choice for your location for some very quick privacy. I would not however do them as a hedge of sorts. That would be dull. The two small trees I see planted, one in each side yard, will need to be relocated to better suit this layout most likely. What looks like a birch tree can be an anchor and specimen plant for the outside of your planted fence and privacy enclosure.

Check Facebook market and craigslist etc. for materials and stuff! Free or cheap find can help with cost! If you can't afford a fence maybe just some cheaper landscaping or raised garden beds with some taller things like tomatoes, (squash will climb too) (from free materials!) Down your property line. Hopefully they'll take a hint and stop playing catch in your yard! At the very least record this, it's trespassing. Maybe the HOA can step in for you. It'd be different if you guys were friendly and they asked for permission. Also maybe those cloth sun screens could help? They aren't terribly expensive (I'm looking at some to block the creepy camera the neighbor installed to watch us, and they'd told us they are watching us. The kids see them watching through the windows! Now they have a camera too) but if you angle them right (low on the neighbors side, he'll who to say you can't put one of those vertically between some post? It's not a fence) between that and any plants you put in could help create near full privacy! You can find so many DIY projects on youtube and online now and days, if you are really struggling to keep this low budget try to do it yourself, and keep it simple, you can always build off of it. Also guess I'm lost on the plants allowed...but what if you installed like a wire climbing wall (wood frame) for plants...maybe you could build it higher too? The best cheap solution I have that is easily reversible for something more permanent is you could make a small garden along the property line, cherry tomatoes grow quick, some quite tall (I've grown some over 10ft high with wood post and chicken wire as a climbing wall) and offer pretty good coverage. Bonus is you can grown them from seeds so they're very cheap, and Tomatoes! Yum! Sunflowers would be a good choice too (especially down the property so they can't use it for catch). Wouldn't be year round but it'd help you most in the seasons they are out there the most. Maybe a "wall" of bird houses on post, grow some viney plants around and between them? Bonus you can face them towards the neighbors so the birds coming in and out will poop all over their yard and pool. Could you build a wall with wood frames and glass? Maybe in small sections broken up by hedges or some bushy plant? You can treat it so it let light in but blocks their view...that with a sun screen cover until you can build something more permanent might work. Last resort might be a shed or something, but that'll probably ruin your space. Hope some that helped, if not, seriously, check out youtube and pinterest etc, you'll find some ideas!

Plant trees along your fence line that have a "columnar" or narrow crown. Some classic ones I see sold around town are red maples but you can get columnar forms of many different types of trees. Don't know your zone. Columnar trees along your property line will give you privacy from a distance, much like the former tree did. Something tall up close makes you feel more hemmed in. But as Sammie mentions, it does give you something to look at so pretty planters on the deck could be part of that strategy. The reason I suggest a column form is that the tree will then spend its energy growing up to give you privacy from above/from a distance faster, instead of out which will fill in the space below with foliage. Not needed in your case because you have a fence for close up privacy. I have three columnar arborvitae in my front yard that create a complete wall of green privacy. Looks like your neighbors have something similar . . .