Would a trellis work there? Clematis can be quite filling over an area, without much space needed for horizontal branching. Planting a couple Clematis plants, that bloom in different parts of the summer, might keep the trellis flowering over a very long time period. Would give you plenty of area on the ground for planting other things. We have a bathroom window on the front of the house too. I got a stained glass panel (made it up myself) and fastened it over the lower half of window frame (about shoulder high on me), inside the house. Covers the whole window glass of lower window. Prevents any accidental "viewing" and lets in the light nicely. Looks very nice with the sun shining thru it, since window is on the western side. You could order a panel from a studio, if you don't do glass yourself. Any kind of design is available. I used opaque glass, made a panel of flowers. You also could add a roller shade, just pull it down when needed at night. I screw in the shade holders, never use the nails they come with. Tiny screws available at the hardware store, and easier on the woodwork, stay put well. Shade is easily covered with an airy valance over the window top. I like the look of windows with just a valance, not cluttered, lots of light available. However with our western sun on a hot day, the roller shade is nice to keep out the heat!

How much sun does the fence get, and from which side? Yoiu do not want to create a planting that will totally shade out your neighbor's acuba, because that will compound your problem. A neighbor moved behind our house and immediately installed a chain link fence. It is on a bank which used to have attractive shrubs, but he has made it clear he doesn't want anything "touching" his precious fence. Maybe your neighbor believes you are the same way, and is trying to accommodate you by trimming his acuba. Additionally, he may want privacy as much as you do. I would sugest consulting with him, but that does not appear to be an option. The larger ferns, augmented with enormous hostas and such things as ornamenal rhubarb, might be a good way to go. If your neighbor eliminates the acuba, you might want to check into the viburnums. There is a small version of doublefile viburnum which grows fairly rapidly and is an excellent screen, especially in summer. If you want something that is equally effective in winter, you will need to use evergreens such as the rhododendrons suggested above--make certain to obtain a larger variety, as there is tremendous variation. In the meantime, you could plant honeysuckle vines all along the fence to cover it, or vary that with the hops suggested above. Honeysuckle smell nice, if you obtain the right varieties, and I read somewhere that young hop sprouts are considered edible! Of course, there's always bamboo.... (There are clump forming kinds, but I am really joking....)

tj,Sorry I wasn't clearer about type of shade. Although this is not deep, dark shade; it also could not be classified as dappled or partial shade. I would call it bright open shade. The source of the shade is our neighbor's locust trees. The area gets 0 hours of direct sunlight, and perhaps 2-3 of dappled light, but has the advantage of a southwest exposure which brightens it up a bit. Having had very heavy shade in the past, I am pretty familiar with shade plants, and I feel sure the trees I mentioned would grow there, with the exception of the chokecherry which probably wouldn't be happy there. Though some non-shade plants might grow there, I don't think they would thrive in this location. If you have other ideas of trees and/or shrubs which would tolerate bright shade, survive our temperature extremes and clay, and do a good job of providing screening I'm open to other ideas. The area we want to screen is a strip about 25' long and varies in width from about 10' to 5' from end to end.

You need to show a picture of the overall area, including what needs to be screened.