Gcreek, I laughed when I read your post about creating a long-term plan, because, if you ask my husband, he will tell you that I am the QUEEN of design plans. I have been working off of the original master landscape plan that I created for our original lot for 10 years now. I even gave a speech once on the importance of having a master landscape plan for your property! There's no way you could have known all of that from my above post, so please don't take offense (I'm laughing at myself, no one else), but it did make me giggle. :) I do have a working master plan of the "new" property; the addition onto the house, the shop, the possible apartment above the shop, and the main landscaping features (including how the new and the old will combine to look like it was always one garden). So, when I say it will eventually be garage, shop, & vegetable garden, I mean it! I was at one point contemplating a formal sheared hedge to hide the veggie garden from the street, in which case I would simply plant it now. But I decided I would rather have a pretty privacy fence facing the street, with low landscaping in front of it. I don't want to put that in until the buildings are in; hence the need for something temporary. I like the Ninebark idea, though! See, this is what I mean by a mental block - I've never grown it (mostly because I never found a good place for it in my yard). The cultivars would probably be too expensive for the number I need, but the plain ol' Ninebark could be a good option. I will definitely be researching that, thanks! Butterfly4u, I thought about a temporary fence of some kind, but it's hard to put something 12' high up 'temporarily' - metal stakes won't hold it through our winters. I know, as a gardener, it seems like a waste to grow something knowing it will be torn up. That was actually something I struggled with, because I am normally one to plan for the long-term in my plant choices. But my philosopy is a bit different than yours, I'm afraid. I will try to explain myself without making anybody mad. . . The bamboo was grown naturally, but was made into a fence in a factory, was probably shipped from China (where most things made from bamboo originate), then had to travel from some American port to my little town in Indiana, where I purchase it. It does not increase in value as it ages. It does not contribute to it's site other than screening a certain view for a few years. Then it will be rolled up (or whatever) and put out at the curb. If it looks natural enough, and there is no wire used in the fence (some do, you know), then MAYBE the guys that pick up the yard waste will take it. Or, more than likely, they will not see it as suitable material for the city's compost program, and it will instead be picked up on trash day and end up in a land fill. I might find another use for it until it disintegrates, but if I don't, it will just be in the way without a use, and if it has wire in it, I will still be left with that to dispose of. OR, I could plant something. I can find most plants at growers within a 4 state area (one of my favorites for tree and shrub seedlings is 2 states away in PA), and yes, I mean GROWERS, not people that buy them already grown to re-sell. The plant increases in value the larger it grows. While it is in my yard acting as a screen, it will also feed and shelter wildlife (perhaps even attracting different species to my place), help clean the air with it's "breathing", produce shade, create a microclimate that will reduce the urban heat coming off the road and sidewalk, and provide something interesting for my neighbors and I to look at during all four seasons. And if I choose the type of plant correctly, it will do all of this with a minimum of work on my part (do keep in mind that I am requesting LOW-maintenance plants, because there is no such thing as a NO-maintenance plant). When their job is done, I have options for their disposal. They could find new homes in my landscape or someone else's (at very least, they could provide cuttings for new plants). If they are woody, they can be shredded and used as mulch. If they are leafy, they can be composted. There might be a wildlife organization that needs a brush pile for habitat reclamation (large shrubs are good for that, I hear). One thing I can absolutely promise you is that they WILL NOT end up in a landfill. And look at all the good they did while they were here! It's just a different way of looking at things. To me a throw-away plant is better than a throw-away product, because at least the plant contributed something while it was growing. I am very lucky that my little town has an excellent composting program. They pick up all of my yard waste, tree branches, whatever, and take it to a huge, steaming compost heap at the edge of town. They also chip tree branches, etc., and compost them for mulch. This material is then free for the town residents to use. Believe me, it is a happy day each spring when they open the compost pile up to the public for the season! Sorry for such a long reply post. I guess I felt a need to defend my decision. I am off the soapbox now and still looking for plant suggestions! Jill

huggy, Bayberry is evergreen where you live, grows fast, native in your area, can take a trimming too, Arborviates are wonderful, they take a trimming, but buy at least 6 ft, they grow slow. Other shrubs were mentioned too, look up online, and go visit a privately owned nursery and ask them, they will know what you should plant there, I would go with ever green though. That view would drive me crazy. You have absolutely no privacy at all, how can you enjoy your yard? Good Luck.

Michman, your GGs will only need at the most six feet of the soil west of their trunks. That means you might have enough room just west of them, without causing a problem for the drive, to plant some 'Fastigaita English Hornbeam trees along with other narrow growing hardwoods. There are even some narrow growing Oak cultivars. Another tree that might be an interesting hardwood to plant is the Perrotia persica (SP) tree, I think they are also sometimes called Ironwood trees. It may take a little time to recover from your already expended investments toward getting your GGS to establish and grow well. But between now and that time you could begin to research and find the trees you would like to plant. You also could plant the rest of these newly planned trees in stages. Maybe all of one cultivar at a time out of all those which you previously decided on planting. Maybe space out the planting times over the next couple years; taking advantage each time of your just past freeze dates and the just at the end of Summer heat days. I suggest beginning on the west side of the trees, because sheltering them from the afternoon summer heat and winter sun is one of the better things you could do for the GGS while they are still so young. After all that, on the east side as long as you leave 6 feet from the trunk of the GG trees you could plan some nice groupings of many different cultivars of spring and summer blooming dwarf shrubs and smallish ornamental trees planted in drifts. None of them would need to be evergreen, since your GGS should provide the needed evergreen background for your favorite, part sun loving, deciduous trees and shurbs arranged in drifts. If you do not want to plant ornamental shrubs and trees on the east side of your GGs. You could also consider adding another row of GGs 7=9 feet in front of the first row, only with the trees staggered so they are not planted directly in front of the GGs in the first row you planted. In reality, since anything you would plant west of the GGs will take longer to grow, the second staggered row of GGS would actually provide, in about half the time, the privacy you are seeking. If you did choose to go with a second row of GGS, then simply add interest on the east side with some season long blooming plants. There are even some types of season long blooming plants which will die in the winter and return in the spring and offer summer blooming till frost. Also, as far as the wilt pruf usage, if you do not feel you can trust the advice you get from your county agent, maybe contact the company who makes the product you choose and see how they suggest you use their product in the micro climate where you planted your row of GGs.

We are trying to get a little more privacy from the neighbors. Not complete privacy, but as is we have such clear line of sight it becomes awkward not to invite everyone to the pool when we’re swimming.