Hi All,

I live on Long Island in New York on about a 3/4 acre property. The propert is very long but extremely narrow (about 290 feet in length and only 40/50 feet in depth). Directly behind the house is about 20 feet of grass and then 20/30 feet of woods and then a chain link fence.

My property backs to three different houses- each with a different height chain link fence. In the late spring and summer, the wood line is pretty dense and provides a lot of privacy- we can't see the houses behind us nor their properties. The winter and early spring, however, is another story. When the leaves fall- we see the three different houses; their pools and a basketball court and net which backs to the fence right behind my kitchen window - ugh!

When we moved in three years ago we were ill advised to put Arbrovitaes along the fence in the woods. We bought 56 and lined the fence hoping this would create a natural border. Because the individual selling them to us was a "friend" we took his word that the trees would survive in the dense summer shade and did not do any independent reasearch. To date, over half of the trees have died; subsequently replaced; and the replacements died. The remaining trees that "lived" (and I use that term loosely) look like Charlie Brown X-Mas trees. Today we removed all the totally dead ones and at least don't have to look at those anymore.

So- I'm back where I was three years ago- but a little wiser to do my homework first. What I need, if one exists, is a tree or tall bush, that can create a natural border, that will grow fast; tall and, most importantly, that can SURVIVE IN SHADE (DENSE IN SOME PARTS) IN THE LATE SPRING AND SUMMER). We installed a sprinkler system along the fence line to help with the dry soil in the area. We need something obviously that doesn't lose its leaves in the winter as that is the season we are looking to obtain privacy for.

If anyone could please help it would be much appreciated. We heard Leylands might be good but we want to do our homework first as this has already costed us a ton of money for absolutely no privacy obtained to date.

Thanks much,

Karen