And what is your zone and general geographic location?

floral_uk, everything you said is what I’ve read as well. The flowerbed is just more for looks and I am thinking the grass might not do well under the vitex trees. We have a few vitex around the house, and they’re pruned and are about 15’ in height. I know river birches can get to 50-90’ tall in the right conditions....but my nursery is saying 20’ or so in North Texas.

I apologize, I meant I plant to spread the 3 trees out in a flowerbed in front of the hedge, it will be about 50 feet wide, each tree 20 feet apart.

laceyvail...I am in zone 8

another photo of the windows where I am trying to screen...

River birch have surface roots like a maple. Have you considered a crape?

Cecily- I considered the natchez, since their cinnamon bark would go well with the golden rust in our stone. I love their blooms, but I thi k their canopy is too dense. I want to screen but don’t want to cover up the house completely.

Acoma then perhaps.

I don't get how you are expecting "trees," since their canopies are raised, to screen something that is virtually at ground level. Seems like you'd want shrubs capable of growing several feet tall. The Vitex could do this, but seems like it would grow much taller than necessary. And if you're in a cold enough area, it will be a die-back shrub.

yardvaark...I have the hedge that hopefully will grow to 4 feet or so....And just hoping the trees would provide some shade and curb appeal...not so much total privacy. I have blinds for that.

So it's the hedge that you already have that will do the actual screening? And you're looking for trees for shade and appearance? Then you should be in the street looking back at the house, showing us that view. To capture it, take slightly overlapping pictures that pan from left to right, showing your whole lot front.

Check out Little King River Birch for smaller size or Delta Blues Vitex, also for smaller size.