Arborvitaes like Smaragd/Emerald Green are the obvious choice. Probably the most widely sold screening plant in the country! They stay very narrow (around 3' and rarely exceed around 15' tall. And they do not have invasive roots.

In my area, you can get them just about any size you want but 5-6 footers are the most common. I'd go with as large as you can find and afford as they are not particularly fast growers.

And if you have a heavy deer presence, they will need to be protected. Deer love 'em!!

I’m in zone 5b Great Lakes area.

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big city name...

does your ground freeze?? ... if so.. they will grow slower than if not ...

based on this years snow load and ice.. none of my plants are now 3 feet wide.. and 7 of them had to be cut down ... where are you ...

how about you take pix of your situation.. and post them.. and lets us make recommendations beyond the one plant bigboxstore sells in bulk ...

conifers are trees.. and no tree stops growing at some magical height ...

i would plant them at lest 5 to 7 feet from the property line..

usually a tree halfway to the property line.. will solve the sight line issue.. rather than a dozen slow growing conifers out a the property line.. something like redbud or magnolia .. and who cares if they are deciduous in winter.. since i dont sit on my patio looking at the neighbors house when its zero outside .... nor do i stand at my windows pining wistfully staring at the neighbors house...

pix please

ken

Smaragd arbs are routinely planted along property lines and fences as screening and or hedging plants. Since their width rarely ever exceeds 3', 18 inches from the prop line and 24-30 inches from a fence or other structure is plenty of room.

There is a very good reason why these are so widely sold and used for this purpose. Deciduous trees just do not offer the same degree of privacy screening as do evergreens nor can they be used very successfully as a property line demarcation due to a widely spreading canopy.

Based on the number of his off the wall comments this morning, I think ken added a little something something to his morning coffee :-)) Sometimes it is difficult to suss out the few nuggets of value in his remarks.

I clicked your history wondering if you were the same OP with the property line issue. Confirmed, then saw a thread where you had identified some Smaragds in your yard. So more of those may fit the vocabulary of the entire yard, especially dealing with tight spaces. If you have a long length of screen to do, consider an option of breaking it up (not alternating 1:1, but "groups" of a specific plant like 20' arbors, 12' privets, etc and layering in front as well) where you map out sight lines for winter vs summer.

As far as privets, I'm in 5b dead west from you (but probably less snow than you get from Erie) and have gone through a couple species of Ligustrum that were considered cold hardy, but even after established were later lost to tough winters. Currently have found success with Cheyenne (Ligustrum vulgare "Cheyenne") and they have so far proven much more cold hardy for the last 10+ years.

I'm in 5b and my privet is deciduous. It loses its leaves in the fall and has still not leafed out yet.