Privacy for what? You have afence what is the purpose of the privacy hedge and where exactly do you want it

Privacy hedge is for alongside the neighbors house - there’s a walkway there with a lot of traffic and also hoping to have privacy from their windows when we sit outside as our main outdoor area faces this part of the house. Appreciate any input you may have!

I would work with it. It’s already established and happy. Moving it risks killing it.

Do you sit outside in the winter when the leaves are off? It's so well established I'd not move it, but try to keep it.

We don’t sit outside often in the winter, but our kitchen and dining room also look out this direction so there is some visual and privacy benefits to having all evergreens.

Do you mean a a path on your property when you say walkway?

I'd rip everything out and start fresh. Make a designated walkway and plant clumping bamboo.

Decks, Patios, and Walkways · More Info

Actually the walkway is on the neighbors property and they have a lot of traffic along that side of the house (people walking from the front to the backyard). We are hoping to plant some trees/bushes in a privacy screen to block the walkway from our side (the backyard where we have our deck and views from kitchen and dining room). The trees we are thinking about are Murray Cypresses, Magnolias and Cherry Laurels alongside the house and at the edge of our property. Please keep the great ideas coming, thanks in advance!

Exactly! Yes the neighbor owns the other plants so we do feel a bit bad about planting in front of those but that’s the cost of the privacy we would like to create. We also like the viburnum, just concerned that it will be completely bare gap in privacy screen long-term in winter months. So we are between 1) keeping it in same location, 2) moving it down ~20 feet to the right, risking damaging it or 3) completely removing (which we don’t prefer).

We have cherry laurels along our pool fence. Laurels are amazing. In our last house, we trimmed them to be a hedge. This time we have let them grow to about 8’, but trim them once a year to keep them full. Highly recommend.

whenever you want plant suggestions.. it helps to let us know where you are.. big city name ... if i missed it above.. forgive me ...

if you work only at the property line.. it might be a decade before you block the house view .. let alone the upper windows ...

is there any reason you cant come into the lawn[?] and plant some trees there???

and maybe a pic of your side of the yard ... you can you make a garden room around your deck/patio? .. 4 or 5 foot shrubs at the deck edge.. and you sitting in a chair .. make it all disappear inside the few years it might take to grow a shrub that fast ... if you grow it out at the line.. with art class perspective rules... the plants will have to be 15 to 20 feet tall ...

think outside the property line box ...

ken

outdoor deck curtains are your immediate solution: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=deck+outdoor+curtains&t=ffnt&iax=images&ia=images

no waiting for ma nature to grow it ...

I like Viburnums and think the absence of a screen in the winter months won't be as much of an issue if you screen everywhere else. I wouldn't move it and I move plants all the time. I think a fence would be your quickest and best solution and then plant whatever you like in front of it with space in between them to enjoy them as specimens (which is also contrary to me trying to shoe horn in as much as possible, lol).

You didn't show us your house, but I might install some bottom up shades on the lower part of the windows where you need more privacy in the winter. You can put them up only partway and block the view into your home, yet you can still see over the tops of them. When you are seated in your rooms, they do not have to be very high to block the view from the outside.

Are you intending to try to block the view from their upper windows, as well, or just the pathway on their property?