Hi, 

What a great project! We encourage you to explore our Mixed Privacy Screen page to gather some ideas and see the benefit of planting different layers and a bio-diverse landscape. 

Is the privacy screen going on the east side of your home? You mention your house faces east but you wanted to put the screen in the backyard so is that western exposure now? Could you provide a rough size and a photo of the space? 

The sun and shade pattern will guide you in plant selection but also drainage, deer presence, and like you said the size of the planting area will as well. We always recommend trying to stick with plant varieties that will max out in the size you are trying to achieve so you don't have to compete the growth with pruning maintenance. Beyond removing some lower branches as some evergreen species grow, or removing broken branches, ideally you don't want to stress plants by having to always prune to maintain size and shape. 

If the size and space allow it, planting taller deciduous shade trees with some understory evergreen shrubs will help to achieve a diverse screen. Maybe you plant only 1 shade tree to help reduce the abundance of shade. Keep in mind that the shade will take some time to come and will adjust with the season. In the winter you will have more sun from the trees losing their leaves in the fall and it will probably take about 10 yeras before the trees really start shading out understory plants.

We can recommend more specific plant species once we have a better idea of the planting conditions and size. 

Emily

Hi, 

It looks like you will have a decent amount of sun for growing evergreens as most are sun loving. Once you remove the concrete there will be space for planting since as it stands now, it doesn't appear to be enough space for the root zone for much of anything. It looks like the challenge might be coming from the existing roots of the large trees, both in your yard and what looks like the neighbors yards, have some large trees as well. This may mean that you will have to start with smaller plants that have smaller root balls/containers to fit in between any existing roots of the larger surrounding trees. 

You can always plan on taller evergreen trees for screening but for space you may need to prune off the lower limbs. Then you could plant deciduous shrubs under them to fill in the space for eye level screening purposes.

Holly trees can be pruned and shaped easily so maybe finding a cultivar that is more columnar would be helpful. There are also upright trees/shrubs like Sky Rocket Juniper, Sky Pencil Holly, and Cephalotaxus 'Fastigiata' (Japanese Plum Yew) - none of these are technically native but are not considered invasive. 

While you wait for trees and shrubs to grow you could consider planting some taller native grasses in between to help fill in the space. They also grow pretty quickly so if you have to start with smaller sizes they should fill in faster than waiting for small trees and shrubs to fill in. Whatever you plan to use for screening we would recommend planting a mix of trees and shrubs to help with your backyard diversity. 

The raised flower bed is an interesting shape. You could use it to gain more height for screening, but we can see how it comes out into the space and if the concrete is removed it may be awkward in the middle of the yard. We would suggest removing the Nandina which is the shrub with the red berries. It is invasive and birds eat the berries since they persist through the winter when food sources are low and then they can spread when they deposit them. There are some great alternatives to shrubs with red berries though if that is was you are interested in. 

This can help get you started and once you get the concrete removed you will have a better idea of how much planting space you have to work with. You can also visit your local garden center to see what plants could work or what you could potentially order if needed, as they are planning their spring shipments. 

Emily

you're welcome