i cant really conceptualize the area.. without pix ...

nor understand the title versus you wanting a mixed border ... meaning.. i understand each independently.. but not together ...

the key to any project is being able to explain your goals .. both to yourself and to others.. so that you can move forward and accomplish such ...

in this case.. it sounds like you have two different goals ... ergo ... separate them.. and each becomes a bit easier ...

you may as well forget about a lot things that grew in OR and AR ... lol

ken

How shady is the area you want to plant? Sounds like it is fairly shady, and if that is the case, consider a fence with a shade garden in front of it. IME it takes longer for plants to get good size in shady areas, particularly with a lot of root competition from established trees. They also tend to not grow as densely, so are less useful for a screen.

To get the best suited plants, perhaps we need some photos as Ken suggested.

Ken, can't it be a neighbor screening garden? =) I have a few pics from earlier this summer. They are probably not the best, but it's raining too hard to go out now. In succession:

This is a view from the back corner of the house, facing the street. One of the pines in the cluster is to the far right. This is facing south:

Panning over towards the neighbors yard. That's a silver maple in the front right. Candidate for removal within 2-3 years

The tree being removed in a few weeks is the evergreen that is right in line of the silver maple. Hard to tell, but there are 3 evergreens clustered together here. Directly facing the side of the neighbors house.

Looking towards the back of the neighbors house. The other two dead pines to be removed either next spring or fall. The rocks were once my front border. They're gone now. and replaced by branches of a birch tree limb that snapped off.

The maple that will get trimmed up this fall. Lots of silvers here, but this is one of two on the yard that isn't, so it is not on the chainsaw list. Maybe a red maple...I'll get a better pic of it and maybe someone can ID it for me. Facing west.

Eventually, I will have sun in this area. By next spring I want to know what I want to plant when the remaining trees come down. Thanks for the input thus far.

you're going to try to get something growing under existing shade trees. Be prepared to provide supplemental water.

Where are you? More vermillion or blooming prairie?

true evergreen may be hard in shade in southern mn. There's a lot of depends, from wind exposure to which side of the state (rainfall and that whole tropical corner of mn thing [winona]). rhoddies are most likely the prime candidates...but you have to watch wind...they don't like wind.

beyond that, there are many candidates. dogwood comes in more types than just the southern flowering. there's pagoda, grey, redosier. Spireas. exochorda. Euonymus bungeana. Maples of different types...look for Korean, Emperor I, possibly three-flowered. magnolias. Saucer (as close to tulip magnolia as you're going to get in MN), star, and there's others.

A trip to Inver Grove Heights may be in order as well. There's a nursery there with as diverse a selection as any in mn...gerten's. But don't overlook a visit to the local garden center...they can be a wealth of knowledge as to what does best locally.

I will not plant anything until all three of the pine trees come down. I strongly suspect at least one of the silver maples will go as well (not ready to 100% make that call yet). I still have about 20-25 feet on the other side of those evergreens, and once they are removed, that location will get some nice morning and southern sun. I am just west of the Mankato area.

Little House On the Prairie country. I'm guessing your soil is quite good and you should have a lot of options, especially if you create more direct sun via editing. I'd explore the wonderful world of firs, which there are many that could work for you. Abies concolor, A. Fraseri, A. Koreana, etc. My tecommendation would be to research this fall & winter, including finding sources, and then plant in spring. Good luck!

Reviving this thread as this project will become reality next spring. Two large (Norway?) spruce stuffed between a birch and a maple were removed, one silver maple is out, and the bigger one goes early next week. I feel very exposed in my backyard suddenly!

My plan is to find a single conifer to place between the maple and birch that will screen the view of my back exit from the neighbors. I love spruce, but I think I would rather have one for a specimen then a screen tree. Considering arborvitae, but leaning towards fir.

Any other suggestions now that I've opened the area up to more sun?

Are deer an issue in your area? If so, you most likely want to avoid arborvitae, which the deer love. They will strip or at least seriously prune the base as far up as they can reach, leaving you with a lollipop shape, not great for privacy as well as unattractive. Do you have room for full sized spruce or fir, or will you remove them when they get large? Or should you be looking at smaller or more slow growing cultivars so that they don't outgrow the space in 15 or 20 years?

One thing to consider is whether large shrubs vs trees will do what you want. If you mostly need the screening at people height, then large shrubs may be useful. There are several large, quite hardy shrubs that I have used in conjunction with evergreens for a screen. Large cultivars of panicled hydrangea such as Quickfire, Limelight or Pinky Winky provide great screening in the growing season, and if the dried flowers are left on in winter, they allow for partial screening that if layered with other plants work fairly well. There is a 4 year old Pinky Winky on the left in this photo, and now at 9 seasons of growth is something like 12' and 8' tall or a bit more. You can see that even with nothing behind it, the solar panels are somewhat screened, and with another layer they would be well screened. (The whole garden was 4 years old at this point with nothing taller than 3' when planted, so even with most plants not expected to top 20', it filled in fairly quickly.)

Ninebark/Physocarpus has an arching, densely twiggy shape, sort of like the huge, old-fashioned forsythia, which will provide good privacy year round. If you choose one of the cultivars that is large, it will be over 6' and at least that wide. They available with gold or dark red leaves and with small bunches of bloom in early summer. Just be sure to choose one with a reputation for disease resistance since some cultivars are prone to powdery mildew. Can't find a good photo of mine.

Both these shrubs are fully hardy in your zone, will be fine in full sun to part sun, and once established haven't needed watering in my garden.

You can also look at some of the hardiest of the evergreen rhododendrons such as the cultivars in the PJM series if you have acid soil. They will provide good privacy for much of the season, but when it gets really cold, the leaves curl and the shrub becomes more see-through. I find that the large leafed Rhododendrons get winter foliage damage most winters here, but not the plants in the PJM series. The foliage damage on large leafed rhodies disappears in late spring or early summer when the plant sheds the leaves, so it is temporary. If your soil isn't acid, don't try rhodies.