Thank you!

Our property line is where I dug up for the flower bed, I was thinking about bringing that bed farther to the right to also screen out the side of their house as well.

This photo is at 9am and now at 10am it’s in full sun. The sparse grass is part due to full sun, and part that the ground is a little sandy. Our home was a new build 2 years ago and we are still working on the grass.

The y’all trees are white and red oaks.

Behind the hammock is the rest of our backyard, a lot of foresty ground cover. That will be part 2 as behind our house is woods and a creek so it’s already pretty private.

The only shrub we have in our back was an attempt last year at a privacy screen with wax myrtles.

I’m considering skip laurels as they get about 6’+. I just took the photo from the deck, I’m not as concerned as privacy from our top deck as I am from the ground.

I love flowering trees so any suggestion on flowering trees as well as bottom to top shrubs for privacy are welcome!

It’s zone 5, well drained soil, full sun.

I question the sunlight statement, too. There are tree canopies directly above. Upright Yews come to mind as an evergreen capable of sun or shade that would block out anything. Schips do zone 5? They would work if they do that ... but they are kind of fat. Oak leaf Hydrangea comes to mind, as a tall deciduous plant, though it can get a bit sprawley. This would be easier to understand if you created a base plan. Also, you need a plan before you do the work ... if you want to know how it works out before you invest effort in mistakes.

Great what is a base plan?

The canopy trees

Even with the canopy trees it’s still full sun.
The skip laurels are a lot of places here.

I don't know if these would work in your zone but I'm a huge fan of loropetalums. Just don't get the dwarf version obviously. Loropetalums grow to be huge, are super easy, have great looking purple (usually) fringey flowers in the spring and purple new growth leaves. I've seen a hege of loropetalums here (Atlanta) that was 15-20 feet tall. Looked amazing when flowering. We have a couple in our backyard that were trained/pruned more like trees and they look like a cross between a loropetalum and a crepe myrtle. Also 15-20 feet tall and provide a nice bit of visual separation from our neighbors. Check 'em out!

A base plan is the measured scale plan -- map -- that shows where the permanent features are located on the property: house footprint, walks, drive, walls, tree trunks, AC, etc. Once one has that, they draw all of the proposed features on it (on an overlay or a copy) and begin to figure out how things fit together ... sizes, shapes, orientations, etc.

Loropetalum is subject to damage in my part of USDA 8 - USDA 5 is definitely too cold.

Thank you! We finally figured out what to do! We went with skip laurels and sunshine ligustrum and I transplanted a butterfly bush, Sky Pencil and jade magnolia

We are still working on our backyard but it’s coming along!

Where in Virginia is it zone 5? Are you at the top of a mountain somewhere?

Can you tell us your closest large city? I think we need to ascertain your true zone first.

Looks like its about 4 years later. Do you have an updated photo of what the skip laurels look like today? How far apart did you plant them? I am getting ready to put some in, and am thinking 5ft apart. ? Mine are at the back property line, so am thinking I will let them grow naturally without prunning. I dont want the boxy manicured look of them.