Hello. Happy Spring! =D

Last fall, my neighbor cut down all of his monster pine trees along our property line (thank goodness!!). My house sits higher on a hill than his does, and it also sits farther forward, so without those trees, things look pretty bare, not to mention that now there's no privacy buffer between our houses (and now you can actually see onto my backporch from the road). I'm not much of a wooden fence person. My neighbor and I get along very well, so I certainly don't want him to think that I'm putting up a "spite fence". But I do have young children and a little more privacy would be nicer, especially from the road.

I would like to put in a hedge or row of shrubs of some kind on my side of the property lin . I think that would make both of our houses look nice. I don't know much about shrubs/hedges/trees, so could you give me some ideas? I would really like something that flowers all summer or something with variagated foliage - anything that's pretty to look at all summer and not just plain green, if possible. They don't have to be tall, but if they are tall growers, that's OK. I have quite a length to hedge, so I could even alternate different kinds.

I live in Ohio. My zone is technically Zn 5 at the top of the Ohio Valley, but I'm really right on the border of 4 and 5. The area is full sun. (I have already begun to re-balance the soil from the pine trees).

Thank you. =D