Would you consider extenting the fence posts, then running a strong wire (like the kind used in orchards) and allowing the vine that is growing to the left to continue . It would cover the top part of the fence quicker that the arbs, much cheaper. You would have to buy 8, or 10 ft 4x4's and attach to the current posts. If that vine is not adequet - plant a fall blooming clematis ( mass of white flowers) Not you typical evergreen wall, just a different apporach. I think the brown spots on the arbs maybe due to care, I am not sure what you summer weather was like. Here in PA it was hot and dry , they the rains came. Not the best growing weather. I think the arbs would be a good choice as long as you had plenty of sun. Mike

demeron, Thanks for asking. We modified our flower bed along the fence line late in December and planted some camellias that should, in time, fill in and fill up the space between our houses. I actually feel like we need a softening layer between the edge border of annuals and bulbs - maybe hostas since we don't get a ton of sun over there. There's no way we can completely block our view, but at least we can minimize it. We just don't have space to really pack the area with plants without redoing the entire yard - which is an expense we don't want. We already had to repair our fence when the Christmas snow came barreling off their metal roof. Gotta love a $1000 insurance deductible! (not) And, we had to have the basement encapsulated to deal with the standing water and resulting fungus on our floor joists. To say this has been a difficult neighbor relationship would be an understatement, but not one professional - from the structural guy, to the guy who first dealt with a small water intrusion issue before we moved in, to the exterminator who has treated the house for *years* will stick their neck out and claim that the new house is causing us water issues. I am beyond frustrated. Thank goodness that i just love this house and the inside updates have been very fulfilling. In fact this morning I am working on my foyer accent wall. And the kitchen is *perfect* in all ways. I couldn't be happier with the result. Now, we just need to layer in accessories and the first floor living spaces will be exactly where I want them. Trouble is, you really can't rush that step of decorating. Takes time to find the right doo-dads.

Wow! Thank you for all the great tips/advice. Sorry for such a delayed response; been so busy with work and family and finishing basement projects. Always go, go, go around here. @Yardvaark - WOW! Thank you for putting together this concept sketch! Very nice for a visual person like myself. One thing I neglected to mention was future plan (3-5yrs) to have a shop built in north-eastern corner and driveway extended. Shooting for maximum width, but the wife wants yard, so theres some debate on what the final size will be. Fact is, no matter the size, it will provide some degree of privacy. Unfortunately we'll have 3-5 years of nothing there unless we do a bunch of some narrow, tall shrubs/trees. Thank you again for this design. I like the idea of bunching up the Chokecherry trees. I think we might place those in a non-key spot as they may be a little sparse for some time. @kitasei - Thank you. Don't mind the idea of something at edge of concrete. Closer to the east, we'll be extending the driveway to go further back. Along the patio we might consider some planter type material there. For the time being we like the openness of the yard as we have 4 kids that run around playing soccer, football, etc.. @Sherry_7bAL I totally understand the pitfalls of creating a line of anything which occurred to me shortly after the chokecherries went in. I have since shifted to love the cluster and variety idea. Like the trellis idea but cant commit on something, so it will take some research and reviewing of ideas to see if i can find something that "pops" out at me. I also dig Yaardvark's ideas with clustering chokecherries and think makes much more sense than trashing them. I'll capture some pics from back fence facing the house and post those. Thank you for you're thoughts! @kitasei - Great idea on the perimeter idea. I had planned on creating a border around the back yard. Wife thinks it will be too much to take care of. (weeds, etc..). We have made our other planting areas in front low maintenance by refreshing the top layers with soil-pep every 1-2 years and relying on Preen. The combination seems to keep weeds at bay. Those weeds that do pop through have such loosely packed roots, that they just pull right out. Ultimately, I would much rather have a variety of dense ground cover, but that will come in time. I would prefer that much more than relying on some chemical (Preen) for weed control. I had planned to use the soil-pep and Preen approach, at least initially, for perimeter in back. @NHBabs - YESSS.. I love your variety! This is exactly what I would love as long as I could use trees/shrubs hitting 15-20 ft in height in some points. I think combining what you have done and Yaardvark's awesome design would produce what I am really after. I LOVE IT. @kitasei - Totally agree with you on creating a border with gentile sweeps vs boring, straight runs and hard corners. Will take some effort to figure out depths at points. would like nice border to house our variety of privacy-giving trees/shrubs without taking too much from yard space. :) @Renee Texas Thank you - Will look into holly. At first thought, i suspect these can grow into dense hedges that will remain year round. They produce berries as well? Are they toxic to pets/humans? I'll need to research holly. Thanks again! @edlincoln Thanks! Trellis has definitely been on the list. I like vine idea. Will take some some planning, as you mentioned... don't want to get something too aggressive. There was a time where i wasn't too big on Spruce's, but i love them now. Thanks for the caution on the shade tolerance. Definitely prefer the variety of fast and slow growing pantings. Sort of a "Controlled forest". :) I'll look into Southern Magnolia, American Holly and Hemlock as options. Thank you! You're right about the Chokecherries. They're not terrible, but for what we were looking for, i think we've since identified better options (many of which have been covered here. :) ). Could always have been worse. :) It's a fine balance on space we want to dedicate to tree's. Totally understand there is a tradeoff between space and privacy. We would like to preserve as much usable yard space as possible, but privacy is, in this case, a necessity. By that, I mean a necessity to me for my personal comfort and well being (AKA Decompression zone). My wife is mixed on a private back yard. She's OK with it, and OK without it. :) She's a social butterfly whereas I can't quite say the same for myself. :) @lazy_gardens Yes - Totally agree on the build vs grow approach. Been kicking around the ideas. Would love to see the example you provided, but unfortunately looks like the link isn't working at the moment. Thanks everyone for your help! I really appreciate all of the guidance and advice you've provided. I have some planning to do. My problem is that I have a difficult time deciding what to eat for lunch, let alone decide on what to plant for years out of fear of disappointment. Sort of like the chokecherry idea. Wish we would have planned that out a little better. Another problem I have is when i get to nursery, i get stuck on the vast selection of varieties and without knowing more about the item, I think too much about it and cant commit, so end up leaving without anything planning to do more research then life gets in the way. :) I truly understand why folks hire landscapers. lol. Although I have no problem doing the work, i just need to know what i need to buy and where to plant it to obtain my goals and you all have helped a ton with that. Thanks again!

We are thinking that we will place them on the ground (on top of screening and landscape fabric) and level them out. Then cover the base with large river rock to weight them down. We could also drill pilot holes on the front and back side of the base to allow us to screw them into the ground with anchors. We could use rectangular planters in front to hold decorative grasses. We would need deeper bases than shown below but this idea. Planters and river rock to disguise the base of the screen. We like the wider board look as it's cleaner.