How wide is the planting strip for this? I'm not seeing a whole lot of earth between the pavers and the fence. You can't really grow a tree or shrub of any substance in a thin crack.

The area opens out past the patio, but it still needs to be more columnar shape for the space, or pruned that way

A better sense of the space

Thank you! You think it would do ok in full shade?

Yew are more shade tolerant and the shadow of your house isn't the same as overhead or deep shade. Look around your neighborhood at what folks have growing on the north side of their houses for ideas.

Other options are columnar/fastigiate trees. You would likely buy that at a height already above the fence with the tree canopy already above the shadow. Here is a short list to give you an idea. A good local independent nursery would be the place to go look for selections best suited to the front range.

https://www.uaex.edu/yard-garden/resource-library/plant-week/columnar-fastigiate-trees-3-22-13.aspx

Here's a wild idea and craft project for you. Hang drapes. Do you know what prayer flags are. You could hang a line of those. Or literally drapes of sorts, a fabric art installation. Think cloth panels with a heavy dowel in the bottom hanging from a clothesline. Repeat that fabric panel three or four times down the fence line.

Will try it out!

Something like this?

Thanks a lot for the idea