Privacy Trees Vs. Shrubs -- what would you do?

[UConnGSD]

Problem #1: Dogs fence fighting (mine's a tease, neighbor's a yapper)
Problem #2: DH and I find the next door wife and her mother really annoying and would like to see less of them when we are out. Mother hangs out at the house every single weekday and pokes her nose in everybody's business, including ours. She's not there on weekends because then the husband's home. (Side note: Husband used to be unfriendly but became very friendly to us after our tiff with his wife and MIL. Hmmm, I wonder why.)
So which kind of tree/shrub would you pick for a deer resistant privacy fence? We have seen so many choices in the last week and heard so many pros and cons that we are thoroughly confused
Thank you for taking the poll

[shilohsmom]

I'm going with Juniper because I'm thinking it might be the fastest growing of the three??? Years ago I had Monterey Cypress lining my property and they grew fast and very thick. In no time I had a huge six foot plus hedge of them. It might depend on where you live though, I understand they really like it along the coast.
Good luck!
Another thought would be bamboo screening. It comes in rolls and is inexpensive and would provide more of a visual barrier.

[VectorSketcher]

I know nothing of trees/shrubs, I have killed a few shrubs in my day, but I do know Cedar smells great! Ha! But Rosa has a good point about speedy growing, that might be helpful too.

[UConnGSD]

I guess I should have added above that the Blue Spruce that we are looking at are 6 feet tall.

[shilohsmom]

The age of the trees (size) will matter. If they are already six feet then that helps. I started with small trees but those cypress grew like weeds. Make sure these guys aren't too close to your home or patios...we're talking massive roots here that could be very distructive. All of the trees that you've chosen will grow into HUGE trees, are you going to keep them trimmed? If you trim the bottom of these trees will they continue to shoot branches at the bottom (you won't want bare spots on the bottom)? Are Spruces and Cedar's used a lot in hedges where you live?
Just another thought, as you trim these trees do you have an easy and cheap way to dispose of all the branches? When I did mine way back when, it was a mess and I had to hire someone to take it all away.

[Mozart396]

Juniper = cheapest, fastest growing. Downside is that it requires maintenance (trimming, edging, cleanup).

[littledmc17]

get whatever grows the fastest
hate nosey neighbors I have one and its great now can't see back yard come winter she can see everything

[Jax08]

How about Lilacs? And they seem to be most resistant to weather conditions.

Deer have never bothered mine...but then why would they when they can eat my blueberry bushes, sand cherries and wegelias. (not sure how to spell that)

Trees are eventually going to grow above the fence.

[UConnGSD]

Originally Posted By: littledmcget whatever grows the fastest
hate nosey neighbors I have one and its great now can't see back yard come winter she can see everything

My thinking exactly. Here's the thing though: the blue spruce comes in at 6 feet. So immediate privacy but the darned things apparently grow 30 to 60 feet, though they grow slowly. Not sure how pruneable they are. OTOH, the junipers and cedars will still need some growing time after being planted. Even the fast growing ones will apparently only start growing after the first year of planting. We can only afford the 4-5 feet tall junipers.

[shilohsmom]

It might help if we knew more about the space you are trying to create the barrier in....how long is the space? How far is it from the houses-yours and theirs? Is this a country setting or city setting?
Your right, the Spruce (and likely Cedar) grow to a good 60 feet. I'm thinking other options might be better for a quick screening. I've used I think its called Pivot and that grows well, as do camilia's- I have several in my upper yard now and they completely block the view of my neighbors. They require little pruning and what you cut off is easy to dispose of. Each of these are evergreen.
I haven't read about Junipers in awhile but again, I"m thinking they are awful big too.
I use to have those Monterey Cypress lining my property in the front-I have some 15-20 or more of them. Yes, they created quite the barrier but I've got to say it looked bad after so many years. They were very hard to trim and getting rid of the stuff was a hastle. I'm the type of person that doesn't like to do a lot of yardwork type stuff so I let things go a bit at times and payed dearly for it later when they got so big I COULDN'T trim them and had to pay someone to do it for me.