Thank you. We do get afternoon sun there about 6-7 hours but some parts of the area I need to cover gets filtered sun due to the hickory tree. Someone mentioned a privacy wall on the deck, but it really won't give us what we want, which is noise reduction, privacy and for resale we want it to appear that no one is beside us. Any thoughts?

and secondly .. nothing that grows to 20 feet.. is going to stop at 30 feet ...

and most likely.. in your lifetime.. if its as shady as you say ... its very hard to define shade in words ...

how about a pic or 3 to define the situation.. i am kinda of a visual guy ...

a blue tooth speaker for your ipod music... or a bose that could be carried in the house .... can white noise the shared conversations .. i always liked Vivaldi's 4 seasons on my deck ... subtle enough to be ignored... if need be ...

most likely .. your fastest and best solution would be a fold away awning ... on a pregola type structure .... that you could extend while out there ...

i dont have time to search out what i have in mind.. on the link below.. but surely ... you should be able to do it much lower key/cost.. that what looks like very expensive installations at the link ...

i really dont see you wanting to plant and wait 10 years.. for some plant to get there.. in this case ...

ken

https://www.google.com/search?q=fold+away+awning&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAmoVChMIvpewoLmPxwIVgZQNCh340wh6&biw=869&bih=745&dpr=0.9#tbm=isch&q=fold+away+awning+on+pergola

Thank you. Here are some pics of the area ground level and from the deck. Ideas for trees / shrubs. There are a few cherry laurels growing now behind the hickory and we can keep them or move them. The bushes are gardenias. Ideas??

I'd consider bamboo. Before you panic, clumping (not running) bamboos are perfectly well behaved, grow quickly, are shade tolerant and the movement of the culms and foliage makes a soft whispering sound that will more effectively reduce noise better than any stationary plant will achieve. And you will get effective privacy screening far more rapidly with bamboo than you would with any tree or shrub.
clumping bamboo

Thank you so much! I'll look more at clumping bamboo. This is what I thought would be best until I heard about containment issues. Scared me a bit being a novice gardener and not having a ton of time to stay on top of it.

Clumping bamboos behave like big ornamental grasses. The clumps get bigger, but they don't take off into uncharted territory.

Exactly! No containment needed for a clumping bamboo. The clumps expand slowly, just like a large ornamental grass or large perennial or shrub. And you can maintain a pretty flat profile as well - you do not need an overly deep planting bed - 6' is more than adequate.

boy.. thx for the pix... not even close to what i had in my minds eye ...

i dont understand why that deck looks less than 3 feet wide ... ken

A lot of the clumping bamboos (most, I believe), that are hardy in zones 7 and 8 are subtropical mountain species. Which means..., they are not as hardy to extreme cold or too extreme heat as that notorious running genus, Phyllostachys (you don't wanna go there!). F. rufa seems the most commonly available in the Mid Atlantic area. It is a nice species and does put up well with our hot nights (a potential issue with many of the mountain species). It has seen temps from 4F to 109 without any burning. It is not cheap, and you will not get a privacy wall overnight, but will, eventually, if it likes its positioning. Some shade from the hottest sun is definitely a big advantage. It is well-behaved and will not be invasive, but will form a dense grove.

We have Fargesia rufa (Green Panda Bamboo). Started with little pots and every year would divide each plant to lengthen 'the wall'. Growing area gets morning sun and dappled midday. It is never watered nor fed.

This shot was taken a couple of years ago. The bamboo covers the property line fence and provides privacy (and its own cooler climate area, in fact). Maybe 10-12 feet tall.

Our deck is much larger/longer than the picture shows...that's just a portion of the deck and is very short (about 2 feet), it then goes out about 12 feet which wasn't shown on the pic.

I'd consider a Chindo viburnum or maybe an upright holly such as Ilex x Eagleston, or Ilex latifolia.

Your rather narrow width is a bit restricting though.

I'm not a fan of bamboos but to each their own. You'd need to check whether it's salt-air tolerant.