Question for those that know trees

[hypedanish]

Zone 5-6 homeowner here in Idaho. Bought this house 3 years ago and I’m looking for a few different tree options to run along my backyard fence line to provide privacy. To give perspective, my east neighbor has a 40ft deciduous tree on the east side that has beetles but will likely last another 5+ years. South side neighbor has 30ft ponderosa. The SW and W portion has 2x 50ft+ maples. Great for shade but I’m tired of staring at my neighbors. I bought this house for the backyard to raise our kids in. This future tree section will only get 4-5 hours of sun in the summer. I’m hoping to plant columnar, crown bearing, broadleaf evergreens along the fence line that will thrive in partial sun and be okay once the neighbors beetle tree dies off. Hoping for max height of 10-15 ft. Am I doomed or do I have to go with a hedge of some sort?

 

[Joao]

If you want year round privacy, evergreens are the way to go. Arborvitae (Green Giant or Emerald) do well in zone 5-6 and grow into a solid screen pretty quickly. They handle Idaho winters fine too. Only thing is deer love them, so if that's an issue where you are it might be worth looking at spruce instead.

 

[ducks4you]

Don't plant a monoculture of evergreens. If one gets sick they ALL get sick. I see this all of the time where I, a whole row of same evergreens, now brown and dead.

 

[flowerbug]

and, well, make sure the place you're planting has the right kind of soil and drainage for whatever you are planting.

 

[flowerbug]

...Arborvitae (Green Giant or Emerald) do well in zone 5-6 and grow into a solid screen pretty quickly. They handle Idaho winters fine too. Only thing is deer love them, so if that's an issue where you are it might be worth looking at spruce instead.

fences required up to above the browseline of any critters that might do that in your area. otherwise they're pretty and smell great. if you do fence them leave enough room so they can grow out but then also the critters will trim them for you when they reach the size of the fence. so make sure the fence can withstand some chewing and pressure from animals pushing against it.

once they get tall enough to get above the browse height they'll take off and look like mushroom tops. i have pictures of these here but not yet posted to my website or linked here, but they will be soon as i'm finally looking at them today.

 

[digitS']

I can attest to @Joao 's idea that arborvitae do well in Idaho –– northern ID, anyway.

There's a row of them a half block away that obscures my view of some of the taller mountains that I would otherwise be able to see from my front window. I think that they are easily over 50 feet in height.

Another neighbor asked me about planting Oregon grape (Berberis brevipes, Mahonia) and if it was a mistake to plant them because she doesn't want them higher than the 8' privacy fence at the back of her property. I told her about the garden on other people's property where we were for 20 years. There was a large Oregon grape there but it never grew much above 6'. Her plants receive essentially no irrigation water and after about 3 years are not over 4' in height, having grown about 2 feet since they were planted.

I don't know about deer or elk eating arborvitae. The wildlife in this neighborhood is fairly well limited to raccoons, marmots and the birds.

Steve