It looks ok, but the arborvitae are a bit boring. I don't *THINK* lilacs rebloom.

"Also, do these dwarf lilac rebloom?"

Depends on the cultivar. Both Bloomerang and Josee are rebloomers but produce the heaviest flower flush in spring, take a bit of rest and then offer sporadic rebloom in mid to late summer.

We have already established that some dwarf lilacs can rebloom........and there are also weigelas that rebloom - any of the Sonic Bloom series, Ghost, White Knight, or Crimson Kisses. In fact, weigela is very inclined to reblooming, to the extent that even older, standard varieties have been known to frequently produce late season blooms.

Oops my bad Gardengal - disregard my post above!

in adrian mi.;. i have the dwarf miss kim ...

second bloom is very sporadic ... and it took quite a few years before it did so enough for me to notice ...

in other words ... it will but dont have high hopes for a great show ...

also.. in july/august .... it might not seem to be as fragrant.. and the blooms wont last as long.. due to the heat ...

also ... it isnt more than 4 or 5 feet ... which may or may not be the height you need ...

the point of the story .... you have great responses above.. but not the MI experience ...

i have no clue how this might all apply to the cultivars you note ...

ken

ps: dont limit yourself at the edge of the property line ... a nice smallish tree ... between that line.. and the deck can be a much more effective sight line block .... in a shorter time ... think outside the box your already in ...

I like the viburnum idea, that would be much more interesting than the arbovitae. You may also look at callicarpa dichotoma (I know that there is a native beautyberry, I just like the arching branches of this one). As ken suggested, a small tree, maybe something along the lines of a redbud or dogwood, would work in between to provide a little privacy.

Some landscaper has recently started using "evergreen" viburnums. Right now, they look absolutely awful. Bare branches would look much better than those blackened, moldy, frosted leaves.

Yeah, an evergreen viburnum in zone 5 seems to be pushing it!! Only one I know of that is hardy in that cold a zone (V. rhytidophyllum) will have foliage damage in a normal winter. Can even experience some here in one of our Arctic blasts. Can't think of any others that would even be root hardy.

It's been a mild winter so far. We've flirted with zero a couple of times, but that's really been it. So if they look this terrible this year, I don't see them as useful ornamentals in zone 6.

I checked my quote and teh Weigela are "Midnight Wine #1.5" and the lilac is "Lilac Dwarf Korean #5". My request to the designer was privacy than something with color at the end of the run (but not white because I already have Oakleaf H and Annabelle H in the backyard).

You may want to post this in the Landscaping forum as well, lots of good tips there on design. Good luck!

V. pragense isn't reliably hardy in MI, not sure about Cree. Alleghany is hardy here (I have a dozen along the side of my yard that create a semi-evergreen screen), and they don't look too bad in the winter months.