Do you have deer problems?

Yews and boxwood are evergreen, but boxwood gets yellow from winter windburn, but will recover in spring. They both grow slowly.

Privet and rose of sharon are cheap and grow fast. RoS has nice fall flowers.

Arborvitae can get quite large, so be careful which type you select. Deer love it.

Weigela grows quickly and has nice variegated forms.
Viburnum is a very handsome shrub.

Plant at least 4 or 5 feet from your house. You want to keep a 2 foot walkway to access your house for painting, repairs, etc. Any hedge will probably be 4 feet wide or more. Most common mistake I see is people planting it 2 feet from their foundation, they regret it in a few years.

thanks for the reply -

yeah, we have pretty bad deer problems, even though we live in the center of the city.

as for the arborvitae, i don't mind height close to the windows, i think it would be a nice frame for it... but for the rest of the hedge, i was looking at the globe variety. i had forgotten about deer, though. thank you.

curse you deer!

we already have a ton of yew, and although i love it, i think i'd want something different for that side.

i'm off to the landis arboretum plant sale this morning, we'll see what pops up.

All Mock Orange varieties make great privacy hedges. They will grow in shade or sun. They grow very fast. They will evegrow in dry shade. They branch out from the bottom, and create an exceptionally dense hedge. So aathough they are not evergreen, they still provide some privacy in winter. They also lose their leaves very late in the fall. And they are not an invasive species. They can easily be grown from cuttings. They have a short flowering season but many are very fragrant.

A hedge of untrimmed forsythia is unmatched for early spring color. Plants sucker a bit and you can split and divide them if you wish to extend your hedge. Most importantlly : don't sheer these beautiful shrubs. Will tolerate some shade. Only needs to be watered during periods of extreme drought.

Arrowwood is fast growing, wildlife friendly,for birds and butterflies, native to U.S., grows anywhere, shade, sun, wet to dry. Suckers can be used to start new plants. Very easy to grow.It is considered invasive in some areas so you might want to check with your county. But it is definately native to the USA. Indians used it to make arrows.