My yard also came with some monster photinias which are now gone. There is something magical about their stumps - they never rot, they're next to impossible to set on fire, their wood is strong enough to dull a chainsaw blade. I'm now planning on working around them.

As far as edible evergreens I haven't found any. Some, like Goumi are dense enough that they sort of act like a screen even when they are naked. I would mix things up by planting some sort of screening plant with some edibles mixed in. I would worry about planting anything that spreads on a property line just to keep your neighbors happy.

I have built lots of bush/shrub beds that serve as dividers around the yard and garden. The birds love them. This time of year when the leaves are falling off I can count a bird nest every 10 feet.

Thanks, John. I started working on the photinias and you're right - the wood is extremely hard. Once I have them cut down to stumps I'll try working on them with a mattock and digging bar. I'll probably give up on that in short order and end up drilling large holes in the stumps and filling with high N fertilizer to (hopefully) accelerate rotting. I guess I could dump chicken manure on top, too. The neighbors would love that...

I figured an edible evergreen is too good to be true. I'd actually though about goumi. I seem to remember you mention growing them in previous threads and having to beat the robins to them. How quickly have yours grown?

Jujube is another plant I was considering. Again, not an evergreen but maybe the stems would be thick enough to offer some privacy. Any experience with those?

I do have some southern highbush blueberries that I bought in early spring and forced with generous fertilizer applications throughout the growing season. I know they don't get very large, but they might help fill the lower parts of the hedge.

Edit: Any recommendations for local nurseries that carry these kinds of plants. I know Rabbit Ridge Nursery in Coats, NC sells two varieties of Jujube. I've never seen goumi for sale, however.

I end up buying most of my unusual edibles from Edible Landscaping up in Afton VA. Either I end up on a road trip in that area (30 minutes from Monticello) or they end up operating a booth in NC (saw them at the Pawpaw festival in High Point).

I think highbush blueberries in front of any evergreen would look wonderful. Gorgeous this time of year in fall color and in the summer loaded with fruit. I have to baby my blues all the time. Mine are mostly a mixture of Rabbiteye but a few of them are 'Premier' which acts like a highbush (which it may be). They are worth the hassle, it just seems odd they need so much attention when there are wild blueberries in the woods right next to the garden and nobody fusses over them!

I find Goumi slow growing at first and they seem difficult to root from cuttings. I'm trying a bunch of them this winter. After you get them in the ground they eventually take off. They make so many berries that the birds can't eat them all. I get plenty.

I have a 'Li' Jujube which appears to be grafted onto a 'Sugarcane' Jujube or something similar. Easy trees to grow. They need no water, no fertilizer, poor soil is fine but they don't like clay, they would prefer sand or gravel. They also don't fruit much unless summers are very hot and dry. 'Li' makes fruit about the size of a small chicken egg, which is large for a temperate jujube (tropical jujubes are much bigger). The first few years after it starts fruiting the flavor is mild but once the tree gets big (5 years or more) the flavor really comes out. They taste like a mild green apple but without any juice. They do have thorns so they can be nasty to work around.

You could also try some of the new primocane fruiting blackberries and just cut them back hard each fall to keep them under control. They would also look good mixed in with evergreens. I'm growing PrimeArk Freedom this year and if they work out I will be ripping out all of my blackberries and replacing them with more of them.