Here is a pic taken from my house looking at the fence. The stakes indicate 11' from fence (too deep, we decided)

You can see a sample skip laurel and Winterthur Viburnum (didn't realize this variant was deciduous)

The tree on the fence is a challenge for planing, I'm sure. The tree on the right has branches that drop to 10' from ground level--prefer to not prune those, if possible

Is this viburnum?

I have read that thread a couple times ;). I am devouring everything I can on Prague Viburnum :):)

My main question is how fast do they grow... if I got one in a 1 gallon container, does it take 5 years to hit 10' tall? 20? What about a 5 gallon container (36" tall)? Would that one take 2 years? 5?

And also, how close/far from each other so they get planted to form a hedge and eventually grow to 10'?
Thanks for reply!

Your clematis is a Sweet Autumn, which in your area is likely to seed around prolifically if the seed is allowed to ripen. You can cut it back after blooming to prevent reseeding.

Viburnum pragense will never reach 20 feet--10 -12 more likely and it may happen in 5 years, but likely a little more. Also, if the house is what you want to screen, what you need are some small-medium sized trees interspersed with the viburnums. You'll want trees that will get 20-40 feet--lots of possibilities. Also, why use a monoculture? No reason why you shouldn't use a mix of shrubs as well as some small trees judiciously placed.

As to spacing. If the shrub, any shrub, is supposed to get 10-12 feet wide, set them 10-12 feet apart. That gives each shrub 5-10 feet on each side to spread properly.

I'm not married to "monoculture"(?). I have given up on hiding the house-- planting anything deciduous along the fence would make a mess on neighbors lawn. Evergreen tree would take decades to hit height

Ideally, I'd have something to soften fence the whole length, with something taller to hide the two houses-- especially the house in first pic

Here are some more pics of space

And thanks for the reply on spacing. So, to grow a privacy hedge from the pragense Viburnum, you recommend keeping to the width of the plant for spacing, it seems.

Some other plants I have seen recommendations (like skip laurel) to plant 2-3' apart for a screen. I'd need a lot less viburnum (would equal a more affordable and arguably prettier solution)

I could also alternate--- 5 skip laurel/ 2-3 Viburnum--- 5 skip laurel... maybe a crepe myrtle or PG Hydrangea thrown in along the way? :)

And throw in a couple of hollies:)

Evergreen plants will also drop spent parts on the neighbor's lawn. And probably also shade it out more effectively than deciduous trees. So now there are two other aspects of the proposed scheme where a tall planting over along the fence may not be the optimum way to achieve the desired level of privacy.

In other words if you don't want to affect the neighbor's lawn at all, including merely dropping leaves etc. on it you are simply not going to be able to have a tall hedge or screen along that fence line.

It's too bad the wire fence isn't the maximum height allowed by local codes (6 ft.?). Then you could achieve a lot of screening merely by covering it with vines, such as the clematis. This approach would occupy minimal horizontal space and vigorous kinds like that develop rapidly. Even this arrangement would still produce a shadow, generate debris - and in addition would have to be pruned to keep it close to the fence - on both sides of the fence.

A big part of the problem is that the neighbor's have done nothing to give themselves privacy from you, on their side of the fence. I have the same situation here. In addition I have had them reach over my similar height wire fence - I am not the one that had it installed, would have gone to the full 6 ft. height allowed if I had - and cut off part of a screening planting I had in place, throw the prunings down on my side of the fence because "it drops leaves on our bark".

So I took the planting out. Now they complain about my sensor activated flood lights, which "shine in our bedroom window".

Point being is if there is any possibility of similar reactions from your neighbors you again may want to instead focus on doing what you can over near where you are when you think you are too open to view, instead of over by the fence.

The neighbours already have several large deciduous trees on their side of the fence which must shed onto their lawn. I don't see they would have any cause to complain about some plants on your side. To hide their house the screen doesn't have to be a rigid line along the fence. It can be staggered and assorted heights and do a very good job. You need to keep a space between the plants and the fence for maintenance too.

Thanks for the comments!

So, I picked up 3 Prague viburnums today for my proof of concept layout :)

The guy at this nursery seemed quite knowledgeable. He said I should plan on at least 5-6' away from that oak if my plants are going to thrive. So-- I am now starting to see a different plan...

a rounded planing "ring" at that tree (say... 3 Prague viburnum?)....

next, 2-3 skip laurels.... try to get to middle of the fence between the two trees

Then, consider a medium height flowering tree-- pink boxwood... redbud... something on that line. Gets to 20-25' max

Follow that with more skip laurel (2-3 of them) then some more Prague viburnum

This is the thinking, anyway :)

Pink boxwood? What's that?

Do that all the time...

Pink dogwood:)

Are these established plantings of skip laurel locally? It isn't a plant I'm familiar with, and I've spent enough time being a plant geek in that general part of the world that it sets off alarms. There seem to be a fair number of zone 7 broadleaf evergreens that won't like a zone 6 winter, and you wouldn't want to spend a lot of money and time on a privacy plant that freaks the first time it goes below zero.

There are numerous examples of skip hedges in my town

This particular plant, I'm not sure where they grow it (I can find out!). We drove approx 30 miles to the nursery where we picked it up

Deer eat the skip laurel in this part of NY (zone 6b).

Interesting. I think it rates a "c" rating for deer on our county extension DB. Good to know