First, see if the viburnum beetle is endemic in your location. If not, you could go ahead. However, I'd like to make a suggestion based on owning about 6 different ones and having killed several. I'm sure other people will correct me` or add ideas, especially since you are in a much warmer area. Maybe you've already researched your choice. You should, because viburnums vary widely in a number of ways.

Think about water needs. Some viburnums need ample water during very hot weather, which you must have. Check widths carefully. Some have a distinct growing habits: the plicatums are strongly horizontal; others are rounded and spreading. Some sucker heavily. Some have lovely fall color, some don't. Some berry heavily; some not. Different viburnums, different berries: red, pink to purple, dark blue.

You are wise to diversify your planting. Monoculture can be problematic especially if the plants used are susceptible to a particular problem. If one gets a "it" the rest are at risk for the same problem. Instead of losing one plant you can lose the entire planting.

Of the viburnums, I would only use a Prague since it is the only one that is reliably evergreen in my area. I already have one Prague Viburnum in my backyard and it does need watering during periods of prolonged drought even though it is in part shade. So that is something to think about.

Have 3 other viburnums as well and no beetle problems that I know of.

My main reservation is how it will look with the tea olives. I have a hard time visualizing things.

This is why climate zone ignorance (mine) can make advice irrelevant. Pretty much nothing is evergreen all winter in my zone except conifers and some rhodendrons In the terrible heat and drought in MA this summer it simply wasn't possible keep up eith watering .

If my v.Plicatums die, I won't replace them it's just too much work and worry to in severe drought. That sounds different than how much you had to water yours to keep it going.

Oh, I have always wanted a plicatum!!! I hope it makes it!

Thanks so much! It does look like those would be evergreen in my zone.

Here are the pics.

This one is from the other side of the backyard. You can see the big gap and the cleyera on the left in the corner of the fence. You can also see my neighbor's big hardwood tree that I referred to. Also, another one of my neighbor's trees has a huge branch that is growing over my tea olives - it's where the yellowish colored leaves are on the right. That branch will be removed before spring.

This one was taken from my deck. You can see a nandina in this one - it will be taken out.

I'm thinking of transplanting the cleyera elsewhere. With that and the nandina gone, there would be a 20 ft length of open space from the left corner of the fence to the first tea olive.

So viburnums are on the table - Pragues and the 3 lacyvail mentioned. I've been looking into whether or not Sasanqua camellias could take the hot sun in that spot and whether there are any that are tall enough. Wax myrtles seem to be on all the lists of replacements for photinias. Does anybody have any experience with them?

While they may be more dense that you want, Ilex cornuta 'Needlepoint' makes an outstanding evergreen hedge. Before I moved to Colorado, I had hedges in various degrees of sun, from full to partial, in NC, zone 7b/8a. I also had tea olives (Osmanthus fragrans) on the south side of a reflective white wall. Blazing hot! They grew like weeds and were more open than the hollies.

My neighbors had a wax myrtle hedge. It became a monster. I think it would be a chore to keep it within bounds next to your fence.

Some Cleyeras (actually Ternstroemia is what you have I think), get quite tall. So that's a possibility. Look for a taller variety.

Also, have you ruled out Chindo Viburnum toward the shadier end? But not sure they are hardy to you. I lost several in vortex years, but you are further south.

There would be a ton of hollies that would work as well. 'Savannah', 'Virginia', 'Scepter', 'Oakleaf', 'Mary Nell', Winter Bounty, Cherry Bomb. Some may be hard to locate. Ilex latifolia is fantastic. Also smaller Teddy Bear magnolia.

marshaaa, thanks for the warning abt the crepe myrtle. I'm sure you are right!

Dave, yes, my cleyera is really a T but I'm too impatient to look up the spelling, lol. I'll take a look at those hollies.

.037 seconds...

https://www.google.com/search?q=Cleyeras+%28actually+Ternstroemia&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=Cleyeras+Ternstroemia

btw .. you are in a box ... lets look outside of it ...

any reason.. you are limiting yourself to the actual fence line.. in creating your site block ...

one nice tree.. in the middle of the yard .. will not only create shad in the yard ... but will also block the house behind ...

ken

I like ken's idea. Simple, cheap, and solves the problem.

You can increase your choices of plant material by widening the lawn where you can see your neighbor's deck. That opens up all sorts of possibilities. It will also make your neighbors more comfortable.

Aren't you glad the whole fence line wasn't planted in Photinia? :-)

Mike

Ken, the house is beside me and from my back door and deck, there is a clear sight line to her yard and deck thru that gap. (Look at 2nd pic.) That is the view I want to block. I really don't want to see it from anywhere in my side yard or back yard but particularly not from my deck. So the trees/shrubs need to be along the fence.

Mike, soooo glad there were only 2!!

My neighbor wants the trees along the fence as well. That gives her the most privacy. Otherwise, she will have to plant some on her side, lol!

As long as that gap is there, neither of us have privacy for our decks.

I would go with monrovia's nellie stevens holly paired with their variegated english holly.

==>>>http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/1547/nellie-r-stevens-holly/

==>>>http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/1490/variegated-english-holly/

Very beautiful, Logan.

I think hollies would look great but most of them seem to get to 15' or 20' high. Hoping for something closer to 10 ft. in height tho so as not to grow into neighbor's hardwood tree and also be easier to prune. My tea olives need to be pruned and it's going to be a bear! Will have to hire someone.

I have a feeling I will end up going with an evergreen viburnum to keep the height down.

How about Daphniphyllum?

What an interesting shrub/tree! Had never heard of it but found it on several sites. Have you seen the pic at Rare Find Nurseries? It's massive!
http://www.rarefindnursery.com/index.php/trees-shrubs/daphniphyllum/daphniphyllum-macropodum-sold-out-redneck-rhododendron.html