I've been considering planting a virginia creeper. The idea is to create a privacy screen along the back of our lot, an area which can be best described as "understory". We have a huge, well established (is an understatement) maple growing in the back, and our neighbors on the other side of the gravel alleyway have two or more trees growing in a (more or less) direct line heading east. We have lots of the same weeds back there that I find roaming in the woods. Our maple is relatively close to this alley so a shrub hedge is out of the question. I'd like to build a bamboo fence/trellis and cover it with a hardy vine that can preferably be planted far from the tree but will still grow enough foliage to cover about 20+ ft of fence. The tree is well centered so two plants covering 10+ ft might be an option. There are pros and cons to this idea, of course. I've seen virginia creeper in quite a few gardens and it does not seem to get incredibly out of control here if you keep an eye on it. Yet there is that tree nearby, and I fear what will happen when I move away from this house if the new residents ignore it...

If this is a foolish idea, do you have any better ones? An evergreen is always nice, but please nothing that needs regular watering. July and August are rough here, though the other months aren't bad unless there's a drought. I'm really fond a natives (otherwise I wouldn't even be considering the virgina creeper...)