Fence & Hedge (formal or informal)

We moved into a home last year with no back yard, it is a corner lot on a moderately traveled city street; I�d love to hear your suggestions for creating a zone of privacy without completely turning our back on the neighborhood or obscuring the front of the house.

Our plans include installing a picket fence along the perimeter of the lot, it is limited to 4 ft in the front and side yards and must be 50% opaque or less, in the back we may erect a 6 ft 100% opaque fence. The pickets will be cut to mirror the rake of the roof on the gable ends, the stain will be opaque, probably to coordinate with the burlap green paint on the house siding paint.

The fence/hedge must keep in our two dogs, a 60 lb. Weimaraner and a 30 lb. Sheba Inu mix, both accomplished escape artists. We would have installed the fence once we moved in if the city hadn't required a temporary easement for repaving our street, replacing underground utilities and replacing our sidewalks. The pups have been limited to a 40' x 8' dog run behind the house.

House closing pic:

[URL=http://img843.imageshack.us/i/0509houseinspection29.jpg/][IMG]http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/9594/0509houseinspection29.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Here are photos taken this spring:

[URL=http://img810.imageshack.us/i/726views070.jpg/][IMG]http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/7945/726views070.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Front yard from driveway, facing east

[URL=http://img228.imageshack.us/i/726views071.jpg/][IMG]http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/9168/726views071.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Uploaded with [URL=http://imageshack.us]ImageShack.us[/URL]

Panoramic photos from:

Front door facing south, panning east to west

[URL=http://img695.imageshack.us/i/726southporchpano.jpg/][IMG]http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/173/726southporchpano.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Corner of front yard facing northwest

[URL=http://img691.imageshack.us/i/726southeastlotcornerpa.jpg/][IMG]http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/8944/726southeastlotcornerpa.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Southeast house corner

[URL=http://img256.imageshack.us/i/726southeasthousecorner.jpg/][IMG]http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/3484/726southeasthousecorner.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

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Here is a plat of survey with dimensions:

[URL=http://img202.imageshack.us/i/726yardlargewebview.jpg/][IMG]http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/391/726yardlargewebview.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

We need more privacy in the west yard. The west side yard is next to a church/school parking lot so we�d like a dining patio there that would continue behind the house; as it would be under a large ash tree, a concrete or brick patio is inadvisable, I�m leaning toward something larger than pea gravel that won�t be tracked into the house but yet isn�t awkward to walk on.

As the neighborhood is very friendly with may dog walkers, we'd like to put a more open patio in the east yard, perhaps with a pergola.

My wife is partial to privets but I am concerned about maintenance requirements and the fact that they are both boring and ubiquitous. I�d like something evergreen or dense to obscure ugly houses and traffic.

Any ideas or suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated!

Ted