Zone 5 Hedge Suggestions Needed

[Ino]

I am looking to grow a privacy hedge and I really would like to find some special out of the ordinary shrubs for this. I even contemplated bamboo. There is about a 16 foot area that we need privacy screened as the neighbors have a deck on the other side of the fence and they can be somewhat obnoxious. Their wooden fence is not tall enough. This is a full sun location. The Ember Waves Western Arborvitae sparked my interest a bit due to its color variation.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[DirtMechanic]

Its a hassle to plant something that has a natural inclination to hate your soil. It just makes for a lot of work. What is the pH there? The grass looks nice. Does it need to be real low?

 

[Ino]

Unsure about the PH. Yes, the grass is OK in that area. What do you mean by low?what would hate the soil? The bamboo?

 

[DirtMechanic]

Most hedge is heavy at the bottom and goodbye grass. A tree screen, such as bushy magnolia, might not need to be so low.

SFgate:
"The target soil pH to grow healthy conifers is slightly to moderately acidic at 5.5 but can range up to 6.0 and as low as 3.5 in the case of Fraser fir (Abies fraseri). One exception to this rule is American arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) which will easily tolerate slightly acidic to slightly alkaline soils with a pH of 6.0 to 8.0."

We grow evergreens easily at my house with a pH range of 5.0 to 5.5, and have to do little. We do not even have to use acidifying fertilizer. They stay healthy and are low maintenance. If you have alkaline soil you are liable to fail,or worse yet continue to spend on and dig in acidifiers and specialty products to make it happen, and even then the root ball will grow so deep you cannot get down there to amend anything and it becomes this "poor growth characteristics" hedge at maturity.

 

[Ino]

Oh.. Good to know!! Alright.. I will start leaning towards a tree of some sort for that area. It makes a bit more sense since I don't need the coverage until about 6 feet up. So now I have to find options that begin leafy growth just below 6 feet and continue up to about 14 feet. This should give me the coverage that I need.