Thanks Ken. I'm in NY metro area - zone 7A. These are southeastern facing, and get about 7-8 hours of sunlight per day in the summer months.

I'm not sure what to do now. I like the idea of removing every other. In one area where there is a space, I just planted a rose of sharon, but it hasn't even started budding yet. I'm also thinking about covering the fence with some kind of screen or something - it's a pretty ugly chain link fence.

Any suggestions of what else I could plan there? I like flowers, but I really want something that is evergreen - and I know the rose of sharon is not.

Oh also, one more question...if I decide to keep these trees, should I at least top them off or prune them back to some degree?

do whatever you want to do with them... worse that happens.. is you mess them up so bad.. you remove them later.. lol ...

ROS is invasive in some areas ...

i would look to a diversity of flowering shrubs .... one of your base problems here.. is that a monoculture was planted.. and when one failed.. they all did ... they all grew old together ...

i would suggest you not look out the window in winter .. lol ... though maybe there are evergreen flowering shrubs for your zone.. there isnt for my z5 ...

and whats all that black dirt in front of them ... you could put an evergreen conifer ... and every other plant a flower shrub ... diversity and some flowers ...

ken

Sunlight cannot be overestimated when considered why evergreens grow thin. Animal browsing is another factor...given how clean the bottoms are and how little pruning you have stated you have done, I'd consider the local critter population.

If you want to keep the existing arbs and plant something underneath/between, mountain laurel, cephalotaxus, and rhododendron are evergreen plants, laurel and rhoddies flower, and are highly shade tolerant.

If every other one is removed, i'd not be surprised if you found the results less than satisfactory. In addition to the thinness and lack of foliage down low on these things, once every other one is gone, I'll bet you will see lots of thin areas along the sides of those that remain-where other plants used to keep things shaded. I don't care what you do, but I wouldn't be being honest if I didn't state this.

Rose of Sharon not a good choice. They want more sun and unless you are certain to buy one of few sterile varieties you either have cut off the seed heads religiously or spend spring on your knees weeding.

I don´t think the present trees are real attractive. Just start over with a healthy mix of conifers, deciduous, woody shrubs. Not all the same thing because if a monoculture gets a bug or disease, they all get it. Some one else can suggest a good mix. Also, how high and dense does it really have to be. Unless you want an army of trees in uniform standing guard over your privacy, a friendly border in varied in height, density, form and flower will be more pleasing to your eyes and senses.

Rose of Sharon reseed like crazy and aren't great as a privacy screen because they don't leaf out until REALLY late.

Plant in front of them. I like the Mountain Laurel or rhododendron suggestions. Holly would also work well. It would block the thin back at the base...and then a few years down the road when they get bigger you can decide if you want to take down the arborvitae.

Now you guys got me nervous about the Rose of Sharon. Not sure if the one I got is sterile (http://www.naturehills.com/rose-of-sharon-lucy)

About the arborvitae... so my dilemma is this -- I'm looking to maybe sell my house in 2 years or so. On the other side of this fence is a church parking lot, and while I wouldn't say it's ugly, it's definitely not a selling point for anyone looking at the house. I definitely want to cover it as much as possible. If I pull out the arbs, no matter what I plant, I doubt it will be any significant cover in 2 years time. Maybe it's best I just leave what's there now.

I'm thinking about just leaving the trees for now, and buying some of those faux-hedge slats that you can put in chain fences so that at least you don't see the parking lot.

Is there anything I can plan that will grow extra fast? Was considering maybe some forsythias, and I can trim them like a shrub. I have some on another part of my property and they seem grow like crazy.

mushroom patch

I still like the idea of just planting something low in front of it to just hide the base.

May the Lord have mercy on my soul for suggesting this, but...you could
plant Leyland Cypress. They are a decent option if you are going to be
out of there in two years...

You could plant vines and braid them up the chain link fence. Some vines grow fast. Be careful not to plant an invasive species.

What's wrong with the Leyland Cypress?

I doubt Lucy is sterile or the ad would highlight that. I believe it is the Chiffon series that´s sterile. You can also google ´sterile r o s and get information.

You are right to be concerned. I removed Minerva after I spent hours pulling up seedings the spring after it bloomed. I have better things to do with my time. Sorry to be a downer, but you may as well learn from my mistake.

Leland cypress becomes a monster size shrub/tree unless you regularly trim it.

Holly is invasive in many areas.

Given additional facts, if it were me, i'd just clean up-via dead branch removal-the existing plants and call it a day. Maybe a nice bed of Sunpatiens of other easy annual flower. If you get the "vigorous" type, they really cover some ground, and height can get to be as much as 18 inches. That would even be a good look when selling time comes. And Sunpatiens easily handle any amount of light...or lack thereof. They don't require full sun.

Use faux lattice behind them which will fill in the white fence

I had the same problem and solved it with ornamental grasses and vining clematis.

Not sure how nuch light you get at the base of the hedge but there are lots of beautiful grasses that will make attractive mounds of leaves and then produce tall plumes when they flower late in summer. Clematis vines love to be planted in the shade and twine up toward the light, so they add extra density to the mid-section of the hedge. You can choose a single variety of grass that has the right height or use a mix of grass types in several heights to form a prairie border in front of your hedge. Clematis can be early flowerin or later season flowers, but choose ones that produce lush leaf growth like clematis Jackmanii. Let the grass plumes and clematis seed pods dry in fall and leave them in place during the winter so they continue to fill the gaps during winter (they look great with a little snow or frost on them), then cut them to the ground in early spring just before they start to grow again. Doing this combo will provide screening for about 10 months of the year (they start growing fairly early but it takes several weeks in spring before they form a significant amount of new leaves). Grasses and vines are very popular low-maintenance plants so I think the look of the landscaping would be a good selling point for your property as well. Fountain grass, feather reed grass, maiden grass, and blue oat grass are all beautiful but need about 6 hours sunlight to look their best. Switch grass, Japanese forest grass, Northern sea oats, and Molinia moor grass are better choices for partial shade. There lots of nice clematis, I like to have ones that bloom at different times to keep the show going all summer. Good Luck.

I'd just plant up all that bare space with shade loving stuff I loved and call it done.

water competition under those very large [root mass] established trees will be fierce ... no matter what you plant.. you will have to water properly to get the babes established..

ken

I would plant some holly shrubs right in front of the arbs but between the stems of each tree. The holly grows pretty quickly and will fill in all the area at the bottom. Also it's evergreen.

Presumably the OP moved away 7 years ago. I wonder what problems the new owner inherited..

If they were mine, I'd rip 'em out and replace with new. And while I'm at it, put new lattice on that fence to replace the old, dilapidated stuff.

Landscaping does outlive/outgrow it's original purpose and needs to be refurbished every 30 years or so.