It might be wise to wait and see what you will be dealing with before spending a bunch of money. Seems like you have a good idea what species will work in your zone. You'll need to be more careful about width. Fat Albert is definitely not going to work that close to a fence. Its mature width is 15-20 feet. The Sester Dwarfs may even be too close.

Thanks for the tips.

Yeah I know I am tight on the spacing... I believe I planted the fat alberts about 6-7 feet from the fence. I will have to get back out and measure. I planted based on 15' mature width but I cut it a little close. I just checked the tag which says mature size is 30x15.

Do you think it will be fine or does it need to be moved?

The thing about waiting is that it will take multiple years for the development to be completed. I thought about waiting, but it'll take 3+ years to be completed. There will be 22 buildings, 15 of them will be 3-storeys high. I have the plans for the development, there will be buildings from every angle. I just didn't want to lose the growth time, and I like having the screen anyway. Yes - I will probably spend a little more now than waiting and screening specific areas, but I can live with that.

This is what it will look like: my home is the one with the red marker.

Any suggestions on spacing and location of new trees to plant? I'm looking at Picea pungens ‘Iseli Fastigiate’ as option and my local nurseries stock it. I very much prefer spruces over cedars. Unfortunately Picea abies 'Cupressina' is not hardy to my region.

if you're going to be crowding...i'd go with arbs over Colorado spruce. it's hard to be much narrower than an arb, and Colorado spruce in dense populations have their own set of problems.

would columnar European aspen work? it can (probably will) sucker somewhat, but it can be 30' tall and 3' wide.

you're trying to work with tight space and still maintain as much usable yard as you can. There's only so much you can do.

With the development that big and tall you'll probably have to use additional screening where you will be looking from most of the time - as in where you took the pictures posted here from - in order to get the desired level of relief. As in more fencing and plantings, maybe arbors, a trellis or two - inside the lot instead of just around the edge. And of course blinds or curtains on the windows.

Lots of poplar issues here, I think caused by bronze leaf disease. While driving around the city I've seen a number of dead poplars and I know someone who lost a couple of poplars recently.

These two trees that I drive by frequently are what I think of when I read Fat Albert Spruce. I don't think they are super old. I have seen bigger ones.

The thing is, conifers do not grow very big in my area. Spruces and pines usually top out in the 30-40 foot range. Of course, they may be even more stunted in your area; I have no idea. But you may want to keep a look out for any mature ones around there.

I think all of these are hardy to at least zone 3, maybe marginal in 2b

Picea glauca 'Pendula' (narrow)

Picea obovata ‘Arctos’ (large, fast growing, maybe in the corner)

Pinus sylvestris 'Fastigiata' (not sure if Sylvestris is hardy for you)

Abies balsamea 'Weeping Larry'

Juniperus virginiana ‘Taylor’

Pinus strobus 'Stowe Pillar'

Thuja occidentalis 'Hetz Wintergreen'

Thanks sc77. Leaning towards a combination of:

Picea glauca 'Pendula'

Pinus sylvestris 'Fastigiata'

Picea pungens 'Iseli Fastigiate'

Thuja occidentalis 'Skybound'

with some sort of golden arborvitae shrubs facing them

The columnar pine often falls open.

I'll strike that one off the list then :)

For a golden arborvitae, I really like 'Jantar'. Stays fairly narrow, bright colour year round. I put in 3 in April 2015, tallest of which was not quite 4'. Now about 7'. Very sandy soil, no manure or amendments, no fertilizers, and only watering is what nature provided.

Thank you for the advice.

'Jantar' is not locally available here. A similar alternative is Thuja occidentalis 'Yellow Ribbon'. which is available. Any experience with it?

Right now it seems I'll go with staggered/random groupings of Thuja occidentalis 'Skybound' with a token Thuja occidentalis 'Yellow Ribbon' thrown in, planted in the spots I don't have trees. If the maple does not make it through, replace with an iseli fastigate. Anything else will eat too much space.

I do have a 'Yellow Ribbon' that I am considering moving. It is in almost full sun, but is a wetter area, and it seems less than happy. It's colour isn't as bright as it should be, and has grown minimally in 2 years. However, a group of 3 were planted at the medical clinic in Durham in June of 2016. I looked at them a week ago, and their colour is bright and they have gained nearly 2 feet of height. They are much happier than mine! I think you would be happy with it.

Thank you riverwood. Wow, that's a lot of growth considering arborvitae don't grow much the 1st year they're in the ground.