soooo .. as the plants grow thru .. and hides the fence.... you keep shearing them .. so the fence still shows ...

and now.. you want to plant something on this side to hide the fence.. where you keep shearing the bushes back ????

why can you let those bushes just hide the fence???? sounds pretty easy to me????

and.. how much space are you willing to take out in grass to plant something else??/ .. where are you [MD is pretty varied] ... snow load?? .... soil ... sunlight??? and any other info than you hate your neighbors and those bushes.. lol.. i got that part ... lol

ken

Looking at the pictures, perhaps your neighbors were trying to hide a few of the unsightly vistas on your side of the fence. To wit: pile of bricks, pad plus trash and recycling bins, open underside of steps, splotchy grass.

Those are some healthy looking arborvitae - be careful how you shear so as not to cause them damage.

Having lived in the DC Metro MD burbs, from experience, you could cover that fence in fairly short order with a hedge of dwarf Burford hollies - inexpensive and available in all sizes everywhere from Wal-mart, Home Depot, Lowes, Behnkes, you name it. Don't be entirely fooled by "dwarf", they can reach 8 to 10 feet high, 6 feet wide... so save your hedge trimmers for when you really need to give something a haircut.

The drawback - they can drop leaves with one sharp spine tip so going barefoot near them is not recommended unless you do a thorough clean up.

"brown out the side of their trees that face our property. "

Having trees on your side turn brown won't be very attractive for you (and it won't matter to them so much).

I would just concentrate on hiding the fence. I agree with Ken, just let those branches come through, eventually they might cover the fence too! Sure they planted the trees too close, but don't let their mistake rub off on you.

Put some pretty knockout roses there, they will love the sun. You'll have nice flowers and an attractive green backdrop.