There is one running (meaning it's going to spread a lot) bamboo you could try. I have seen it here and there around the midwest, as well as here in Canon City. I have also seen it for sale locally and at Harding Nursery in Colorado Springs, so you can no doubt find it in Denver too. With bamboo you have to be aware that you're not going to see much growth the first year or two, and you have to water it a lot. Then when it gets established and starts to spread, it will stay evergreen a little better, grow a little taller, tolerate drought a little more, and so on. But you'll still probably need to water it as much as a lawn. The following information is from the 'Lewisbamboo.com' web site: "Phyllostachys aureosulcata - (common name:)'YELLOW GROOVE BAMBOO'" "One of our top picks for very cold areas in need of privacy screening. I have measured this species at 46 feet and 2.6 inches in diameter in climate zone 7. We have customers growing this cold hardy species in parts of Minnesota. The culm (cane) sheaths are pale green with creamy streaks. Auricles and oral setae are present on mid culm. Can be absent on lower and upper portions of the culms. A very upright species at maturity. Less aggressive in cooler climates. Yellow Groove is from Jiangsu and Zhejiang in east China." "This species is doing very well in the Missouri Botanical Gardens, Logan, Iowa and Grand Island Nebraska. One of our customers in zone 3b/4a Wisconsin where temperatures have gone to -30 reported his 'yellow groove' dies back in the Winter months. It comes back each Spring 6 to 8 feet tall from a 5 year old planting. Reports back to us this year that it is doing great at the University of Minnesota Arboretum." "It averages 10 to 12 feet in height by .75 inch diameter at the Denver Zoo after 12 years and appears that this will be the mature average height at that elevation and climate zone 5." "In USDA Climate Zone 7 expect mature size canes to be over 40 feet in height. In USDA Climate Zone 6 expect mature size canes to be 18 feet in height. In USDA Climate Zone 5 expect mature size canes to be 12 to 14 feet in height. In USDA Climate Zone 4 expect mature size canes to be 8 feet in height." "I recommend this species for USDA Climate Zones 5 and warmer."

Is the fence the new white vinyl one? If that's the case nothing will grow ON it and although it's fun to joke and fantasize when you have a neighbor like that (I know all to well) it's best to let them be grumpy by themselves on the other side of it and be glad they have paid for it. To soften the look of it I would suggest a nice row of Lilies. My brother bought the most quaint little white sided house with green shudders and a real life white picket fence surrounding the property and the previous owners had put Michigan Lillies (free at the side of the road and spread very well) around the entire perimeter. Against the white picket fence the lilies looked FANTASTIC. You can also buy those gadgets that hang over the side of a fence so that you can put boxes or flat sided baskets on the fence but not bother your neighbor as only a tiny bit of the metal lays on the other side to clasp the gadget on. You can go cheap (Walmart) or buy fancy ones at a garden center in wrought iron or other metals. You could add a tiny wren/bluebird house, place a birdbath in front of part of the fence to draw the eye away from it and put a piece of statuary in the lush foliage of the lilies. I only suggest Lilies because you will get satisfaction this summer with them as they will grow 2-3 feet high in their first year and improve year after year. You might end up needing to divide and give away or sell some as the years pass but that's ok, just put them in a yard or plant sale and make some money off your neighbor's grumpy attitude and fence. With shade you have even more possibilities with the use of Ferns (ostrich grow up to 5' in good conditions), Hostas and the wide variety of other shade loving plants. The choices are almost unlimited and you could be planting for the rest of your life. Make your glass "half full" on this issue and appreciate that your neighbor gave you a backdrop for some nice gardening ideas (even if the backdrop is not that pretty at present). Barb Southern Ontario, CANADA Zone 6a

It was more that I was soooo excited to have such a great kitchen in a house that was in our price range and I saw it as "wow, I might have picked all of this myself... except for the counters." I really love shaker cabinets and although natural maple wouldn't have been my first choice, it wouldn't have been my last either. From the moment I saw the house I had in my head that the kitchen could be perfect if I just replaced the counters. I LOVE corian counters, I know most don't, but we had them in our first house and I really loved the surface. Then the list of things we wanted to do in "phase 1A" of making the house our own was formed and I just couldn't justify ripping out perfectly functional 1 year old counters because I wanted corian that would have cost nearly $5k. With that same $5k we did everything else in the entire downstairs, including new crown moulding in the dining room and living room, the wallpaper and borders, paint, the floor in the kitchen (the old one was just not functional for us) plus a bunch of plumbing work (some old house issues but also installing a whole house filter, slop sink in basement, plus running water and gas for washer/dryer on the first floor) and other assorted stuff. That money went a LONG way to making the entire house "ours" and frankly, if we had used them for counters i think the impact would not have been as great.... or rather that I managed to achieve just as much impact by changing just about everything else and leaving the counters as is. Unless anyone here has a small house and a huge pot of money I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about on that front. So no, I didn't care much for the counters when I first moved into the house but once I decided to work with them, I surprised myself by how much I ended up liking them. One thing I liked about the PO's kitchen (even though I didn't like a lot of his decor choices) was that it felt fresh and clean and I think the green counters contribute heavily to that. I figured out a way to work my favorite color, cranberry/pomegranite red, into the equation as well as that vintage coziness I was seeking using some of the better parts of my husband's coca cola collection and it all just sort of clicked. I love my house and I love that I've been able to do most things on a budget with a little creativity, some ingenuity and a LOT of patience. To get back OT a little bit, I think actually this is a benefit of a smaller house... yeah you might not have as much room to store materials but the scale of the projects being smaller allows you to save time and money on less materials. Our house is on the big end of small... well, frankly I don't consider 1900 sf to be all that small but we have many rooms, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, an eat in kitchen, formal dining room, living room, mud room and a fairly large front entry hall and we face a lot of small house challenges because with the exception of our kitchen, our rooms are on the small side... but when we were looking at homes I was overwhelmed at the thought of renovating larger homes. It felt like I'd never be able to get my arms around the whole thing. With a smaller house, there feels like there is an end in sight even with my snail's pace.

In our new build, a screened in porch was one of my prioritys. We are on the very edge of town and there are woods and a neighbors large pond nearby. ( mosquitos!). We have an 11 x14 ft screened porch off our dining area. We love it and spend a lot of time out there. We have put rollup bamboo shades on it (which are rolled up most of the time and cannot be seen from the outside) for the sun and privacy when needed. We also have a ceiling fan which helps a lot in the humid Illinois summer. We put up 2 hummingbird feeders and enjoy sitting in the porch watching them feed. The only con is that there is a field a half block West of us that when plowed in the Spring, blows a lot of dust and if we leave the sliders open, I notice a lot of dust on the dining table inside. With the 6 ft sliders we don't notice any lack of light from it. It faces South and gets a lot of light. I think you would get plenty of light.