Would he consider native plants? Byrsonima lucida is lovely and it's floral display impressive. Hoizontal cocoplum makes a thick hedge. If trimmed to keep it from growing too tall, Jamaican Caper is a nice plant with interesting flowers.

Problem solved sonni, the big Tebow mango tree was cut down this morning and an order of 2 Southern Red cedar trees and some cocoplum hedge plants are still in the planning stagel. Thanks for the tip.

I have both Southern Red Cedar and Cocoplum at my place and both do very well with no care (aside from watering to get them established. They both get quite large.

My favorite nursery hereabouts is Oak Farms, and they have neither but are perfectly willing to order them for me. I will be very particular re the Southern Red Cedar, as my googling tirade yesterday clearly informed me that the Eastern Red cedar can only be planted as far south as northern Florida. The Southern Red Cedar however, can be planted as far south as Lee County. So when i place my order, I will be adamant that they get the right Red Cedars ordered !

One thing I must do before any trees/shrubs arrive is to get my metal rake out there and get the area level & smooth.

Where are you located ? How do you feel about the Southern Red Cedars ? I'm looking for a nice looking, TROUBLE FREE border back there. Have enough to do now from March to August with my two fast growing young mango trees. the Glenn starts dropping in mid june, the Kent,..I am not sure,..I know it's a late harvest tree, but this is my first harvest with this young Kent. it still has 7 huge red fruits still clinging to it,...none have been picked !! Am watching it like an osprey ! :o)

Am also toying with the idea or replacing the cocoplum with some Louisiana Red Copperleaf plants,...what do you think ?

I have no experience with copperleafs so I cannot say how they will perform. The Southern Red Cedar is a trouble free tree, but grows large and since it has a single leader I don't know how to go about trimming it. The coco plums, too should be trouble free (few if any pests and no supplemental irrigation), but unless you find the horizontal variety, they too will become very big over time.

Jofus, Have you consider the crape myrtle as an option? I am talking about the ones that are prettier, not the white ones or watermelon ones.

In my neighborhood there is a pretty ones lavender color as a fence, the trunks are pretty too and they make a nice show when blooming, they are easy care and grow fast. There are some beautiful purple, the red ones are nice too.

I have 2 in my front yard, dark leaves and red flowers, I like them!

I appreciate all the info,...but still haven't made the final decision. Can only do the 40 ft wide hedge once, so gots ta get it right da foist time. One thing I am pretty confident about is the two Southern Red Cedars that will be at each end of the longish hedge. They I think, will grow 10 -15 or so feet tall, therefore they'll be 4+ ft taller than the wood fence and act ( I hope ) as a mini windbreak from ultra-hi winds coming at me from west,..from the Gulf.

Most important tho, is that the new hedge look nice with the southern red cedars at the ends and the lavender crepe myrtles in the middle.

. To all,..what do you think of these guys I stumbled across ? If I order them, will get 3 or 4 to fill in the middle. Only possible glitch may be that their map where these guys will be most comfortable in looks like it's a mile of so above where I live in the SW Florida coast,..in zone 10a,...and their map looks like they'll only get down to 9b or so. My property is west of Pt Charlotte and south of Venice..

They're called Catawba Crepe Myrtle and have lush looking lavender flowers and grow to around 10 FT,..don't want anything in the middle of this long hedge to grow much above that,..certainly no more than 15, 16 footers ft.,..just a tad higher than the 6 FT tall wood fence would be fine, If I do go for these Catawba, will select the 2 - 3 ft tall ones,..the lavender buds look glorious,..it's just will they grow in 10A ?

May have to copy/paste :

https://www.brighterblooms.com/products/catawba-crape-myrtle?variant=13669544624189&gclid=Cj0KCQjwp5_qBRDBARIsANxdcilzGd4iFmuwN0b49SglIrUxCypaIKXh9STN1gnFbo8zLFXfPnrVts4aArLUEALw_wcB .

Hope it comes thru,..thanks !

According to this site, they will grow in zone 10

https://www.south-florida-plant-guide.com/crape-myrtle-tree.html

Thanks Sylvia,..am still looking. The fence is 6 ft tall, so don't want to plant anything between the two Red Cedars that will grow to a height of over,..lets say 10 ft.

Will be driving up to Oak Farms soon and see what they have.

I'll vouch for the loveliness of the Tibouchina trees. The color is strikingly beautiful. A number of folks have them in their yards here and they are not very tall:

I don't know who told you that southern red cedar only grows to 10 feet. I had one in my front yard in SC that got so tall, it was about to interfere with the power lines, so I donated it to the University of SC as a Christmas tree. I've seen them get 30-40 feet tall in their native habitat.

There's an old wive's tale that if you plant a cedar tree in your yard, you'll move. Just sayin....

Sorry for not updating this post. After discussing my plan with the local nursery, I have decided to simplify the new hedge out back. Have already ordered only four " pink velour crape myrtle trees. " Besides being a more simple solution, it will light up that yard like few other shrubs/trees would,..IMHO that is ! :o)

https://www.naturehills.com/crape-myrtle-pink-velour?gclid=EAIaIQobChMImOqKvL_v4wIVB5d-Ch3WRwrPEAEYASABEgLaHvD_BwE

Thanks for the thumbs up guys, - the online supplier can't ship the four trees until early Sept. So am spending my time by gradually,( in this heat a necessity ), prepping the large former banana bed. The pink velours will be in 3 gallon pots, so am hoping they'll each be about 3 ft tall.

Will supply some before & after pics after the trees are planted, which I hope will be soon ! Also hoping there'll still be some pink flowers,..also hoping I am not hoping for too much ! :o)

PS : Have just ordered another tree ( from a different online supplier ), it's called a Muskogee Crape Myrtle, - will plant it adjacent to the driveway out front, where a shabby looking " Little Gem Magnolia " is spending her last days. Never grew taller than 6 ft, and is sitting in a nice raised concrete block bed only 48 Ft down a gentle slopping driveway to the street.

Every time I glance at the gorgeous bright lavender flowers of the new tree,..I'll be hearing my old buddy Merle Haggard singing,...

"We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee
We don't take our trips on LSD
We don't burn our draft cards down on Main Street
We like livin' right, and bein' free

We don't make a party out of lovin'
We like holdin' hands and pitchin' woo
We don't let our hair grow long and shaggy
Like the hippies out in San Francisco do

I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,
A place where even squares can have a ball
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,.......

Ahh yes, great to be a Southerner here in SW Florida,..and the lyrics are so true, especially since I don't have long and shaggy hair either,..LOL ! :o)

PPS : The key phrase I like when reading up on these Crape Myrtle trees is : " They all are LOW MAINTENANCE ! "

Muskogee is a gorgeous crape myrtle, one of my favorites. It can get very large and blooms like mad every year. The only problem with it is that it tends to send up a lot of root shoots around the bottom, but they're easily removed.

Thanks Deb,..am out on a bit of a limb with this guy, but every time I looked at the pic, I got more enthused, ..love the name also. The sales gal on the phone ( they're in South Carolina ),... when I asked if she ever saw one in person ( wise guy New Yorker ), = she said yes, in fact she has two of them around her house. I then asked how tall are they,." I only want a 15 - 16 footer max." She howled with laughter,.."Hey, then just take my advice then,...DO NOT FERTILIZE YOUR TREE,..then you should be able to keep it around 16 ft,..mine are both 30 Ft tall ! "

Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound. Looking forward.

Joe, you can keep it pruned to keep it the height you want. I kept mine about 10 feet tall by pruning a bit every year and cutting off the new growth around the bottom. My grandmother had one well over 30 feet tall. It was gorgeous!

Carol, was also thinking of adding one of those Tribouchina trees that you spoke about so well. However, the tree specs say zone 10a is fine, but it needs a mostly shady location,..roughly about 3 hrs of sun a day ! What'da you think ? The location I would plant it gets 9 hrs + a day of bright sun, - minimum !

Around here tibouchina grows in full sun, but be aware that they are very easily damaged by high winds, like tabebuia. Oh, and there was one I used to pass daily that was well over 20 ft high and broad in proportion.

Thanks writersblock,....a 20 + ft high tree would not work. Have enough pruning jobs lined up, so from scratch I'll select a small tree that tops out around 12 - 15 ft max,...unless someone can verify a shorter limit. Bottom line, what all this ripping out and replanting is all about is to eventually ( soon ) to have a mostly low maintenance yard !