Well, let's see...⺠The area that I'm going to do, starts as more sun and goes into more shade. Since the slope goes down and is west of the house, it gets more sun than if it were even land. The slope isn't so bad you can't walk it, it doesn't simple fall off like I've seen elsewhere, but it does start the slope up at the house. So the whole back yard is a slight slope down and goes into the timber, which keeps on slopping, sometimes more steep, then goes back into a gentle slope. The house sits on approximately 2 1/2 acres, the timber is 3 1/2 and at the very bottom, after the slope and the timber, is a field that's cash rented out to a local farmer. The field is 10 acres. I'm sure Don (farmer) uses chemicals on the field and yes, my parents use chemicals on the turf grass. This has to be a compromise. It can't be all what I want, it has to take into consideration how and what they feel. I hope that makes sense to any other person with parents in the age bracket of late 60's to early 70's. My dad feels it's park like and I don't, but that's another story⺠That's why it's very important to do a compromise. I want to start with a 20 ft. long section by about 10 feet deep. Something natural is what I'd like or even the trench as suggested by bobb64. Unfortunately, rocks aren't in or on our soils in this area, so those wouldn't be natural. Fallen trees are very natural in the timber, so those would be natural. Greenhaven, I believe I can get my parents to abide, but you know how that goes sometimes! I thank everyone for their suggestions! Terry

Yes, soil is going to make a difference. It's not that hard to DIY it and you can save yourself 75%. Village Nurseries (various locations) sells a turf that looks pretty good. I watched the guys do it on my install and after seeing what they did, I'd do it myself. They took out about 6" of soil, put down about 5" of "road base", tamped it down, then put down a 3/4" layer of some kitty-litter type stuff that they claimed would prevent odors, tamped that down, got everything super perfectly level. Then they laid down the turf and nailed it down with 6" galvanized spikes around the edges. If you have to use more than one piece of turf you flip it over and tape the pieces together with a tape recommended for the product. Then they brushed play sand into the turf, which helps the blades stand up and stay up. Done. I think the key thing is getting the road base perfectly firm and level. If you take your time and are patient and meticulous about that, it just didn't seem that difficult. Luckily I needed soil in another part of the yard so there was no need to haul the removed soil away, which costs $$$. Mine has been in place 3 years and there's still no odor--perhaps a vague hint on a hot day in summer, but no reek. I was worried about that. If your soil drainage is poor it might be more of an issue. I give it a quick hose off when I wash the car. It is going to look good longer in shady areas. It does have UV inhibitors but the sun gets to everything eventually.

"I don't know what to mix in this case - any thoughts?" Sorry, but I can't suggest appropriate plants as I've spent little time in your part of the world, and none in northern LA. I've spent several weeks based in NOLA for work, that's it. I just wanted you to be aware that you won't get an even dense hedge of one species with the variability of light levels. I have a more casual style (I live on an old farm) than what appeals to you, so instead of hedges of one species, for the most part I have mixed shrubs, with multiples of each species, mixed along the length of the shrub border. Only in one spot do I have a row of all the same species, and that is in full sun from all sides so that the plants grow at a fairly similar rate. My usual suggestion in this type of situation is that you visit neighborhoods where the gardening appeals to you to get ideas, or if there are garden centers or nurseries with demonstration gardens or if there is an arboretum or public park or botanic garden where you can look at the various types of plantings that they have. To get an ID on a particular plant (if it's not in a situation where it is labeled) take photos of leaves, blooms or fruit, branches and the whole plant, and post on the Name that Plant forum. Or visit the public library and look for books that have landscaping photos for your general area or look at photos here on Houzz that are from your part of the US and see what inspires you. You want to keep in mind that you don't want a huge amount of pruning (so check growth rates once you know names) and that you don't want excessive amounts of shedding of blooms, leaves, seeds, and branches, so something that blooms all summer might be messier than you want to groom. Here's a photo from Derviss Design/Michelle Derviss - she sometimes participates in these forums. Though her area is different (CA coast) it shows a similarly shaped yard with varying light levels around the perimeter and so a mix of plants. She hasn't tried to totally cover up the fence, but there is a mix of different textures and foliage color and varied plant heights. If you look at the closer photos of the pots (go to link below) they also rely largely on foliage rather than flowers. I am not suggesting that you try to emulate this, just that this is one way to approach your problem. http://www.houzz.com/projects/312471/napa-valley-outdoor-living

thanks for the recs, I coulda just googled the usda hardiness zone and found many options but I know for example like dogwoods are recently not doing to well in this zone (something with a beatle or something like that) but I will search each type further. Now I think I'm going to actually just plant like 7 different types of trees in between the arboorvitaes! Sounds wrong but I have seen many examples of similar, and it looks cool, also what's good is that for example arborvites sometimes can get snow damaged (limbs break under weight) and if you have a 20 year old screen of them and one gets beat up, you might want to replace it and might be hard to find the exact type and especially size and could be pricey. With using different types, if something dies or gets beat up it can just be replaced. I think I'll try an aprocot tree (have seen one doing well in the area) and a few other evergreen columnars/semi columnar.