No, please not a Juniper. How about some of the more upright hollies? Oakleaf, Fosters, Centennial Girl, Aspire, Oakland, etc?

How long a length do you want to screen? And what is your soil like,(sand, clay or in between), and how much sun will the area get?

Different evergreens like more or less sun, and get wider or stay narrow, so it would help to know what the situation allows.

I assume from your initial suggestion for planting that you don't want a flowering or broadleaf evergreen but want a conifer? If you would consider one, there are a number of broadleaf possibilities, ranging from the above hollies to viburnums, mountain laurels, rhododendrons, selected euonymus or pyracantha 'Lalandei', to name some of them.

Thank you for your suggestions Dave and Dibbit. Dibbit, our soil is on the clay side and the area will get pretty much full sun. I'll have to go out and measure the side property line but we have the typical suburban 1/4 acre rectangular lot. I don't have to have a conifer but would like something evergreen with a little height (somewhere between 10-20 feet or so) but not huge at the corner of the property to screen out a playset in somebody else's yard. I probably would need the trees to screen about 15-20 feet wide. I was thinking then along the middle of the side I'd put some shrubbery (maybe mockorange or the taller hydrangeas) for a little lower summer screening and then in the other corner we have an established Rose of Sharon shrub/tree.

Dave, why not a juniper? Too common? I can't wait to look into the plants you both suggested.

Thank you both.

I think a holly that makes a big bush/small tree would be good, like a Buford, East Palatka, Savannah, or needlepoint holly. There are many more in this group than the ones I mentioned, most of them dense, so if I were you, I'd find a good nurseryman and ask him/her which is the best for your area and how they grow in your area. Female, berry bearing hollies feed birds, so you'll be helping in that way, too.
Sherry

Hollies are good options.
I'm not sure if the following are hardy where you are, but consider some of these small trees or shrubs trained as trees:
Viburnum
Photinia
Rhaphiolepis 'Majestic Beauty'
Camellia
Magnolia grandiflora
Euonymus japonicus, large cultivars, trained as trees.

Hi,

My name is Bill and I live in Western NY (Hinsdale).

I have some beautiful Eastern (Canadian) Hemlocks on our property. They have beautiful, lacey foliage and are of course, evergreen.

If you plant them about 4 feet apart you could make a really nice boundary/screen with them. They will tolerate heavy shearing and you can make a beautiful hedge line with them.

They do well in clay, but I'm not sure about the full sun. They're like the cool moistness of the forest and do well in part sun-shade. I think they would be ok in full sun, but you might want to look into it.

Talk with you soon,
Bill