Moon Valley Nursery sells Ficus as the solution to everything, because that's what they have the most of in stock.

Take your time getting the RIGHT tree. Don't settle for what's out there because you want to plant something next weekend. It's a long-term relationship. :)

Look up your specs for trees on sunset.com and see what they recommend, and then ORDER it if you have to from a reliable nursery. Moon Valley is not what I would call reliable.

Realistically, a couple of evergreen trees (Australian Willow?, Eucalyptus spathulata) in the right spot would block the view of the pool from the neighbor's upper deck.

For immediate pool privacy, how about a shade structure with lattice between the pool and the neighbor ... permanent, doesn't drop leaves, and it gives the tree time to grow.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sunset Plant finder

>> the root system being a deep root system so it doesn't interfere with the block wall and these trees can get up to 30-60ft which will not be good for my neighbors.

Not in Arizona they won't. Not humid enough. Then there's the occasional clobbering frost.

Eldarica Pine do extremely well in your location, won't leave a mess in your yard and grow quickly. I planted 1 gallon plants when I lived in Mesa several years ago. By year 7, they were well over the top of our concrete privacy fence. They CAN get very large and wide. I planted one to each section between the columns and they were touching after just a few years. They are drought tolerant once established.

Eldarica Pine do extremely well in your location, won't leave a mess in your yard and grow quickly.

Eldarica pine is too messy to be near a swimming pool. it's a constant battle to keep the filter clean because they shed needles all year.

I appreciate the responses so far and have been looking for other options as the Ficus are def out. It doesn't have to be a tree however I thought it would look a little better and still give the back yard a larger appearance.

With that in mind maybe a full out privacy wall isn't what I need as I could do with just putting something up that will break the visual line between our two yards and still add some privacy. BottleBrush was also recommended but not to sure about those as well as they remind me of Oleanders.

I agree with lazygardens, Moon valley is not reliable for advise, several times over the years, they recommended plants that did not fit the situation they were grown in and perished. It's always better to go to a garden center or big box store, after reading up on plants, not depending on advise from staff who may know less about gardening than you.

Have you considered yellow or orange bells? They grow to around 10 feet tall, have nice blooms, easy too. One of mine is a few years old and around 7 to 8 feet tall.

One other option: silk oak can be planted in a row and sheared regularly to keep it low (doesn't need much water either)

You can treat live oak seedlings this way, too. Just keep them sheared to the height you want.

More suggestions:
Hop Bush (Dodonaea viscosa)
Mexican Bird of Paradise (Caesalpinia mexicana)
Willow acacia (Acacia salicina)

Here is a link that might be useful: Online plant database - Water Saving Plants

How about Thuja Green Giant. No leaf drop and will grow into a hedge quickly.

toucan, I've looked at this one before but it's not rated for our zone. It won the Gold Medal Plant Award one year in Pennsylvania! Sorry, I would love a hedge of this but not interested in living in zones 5-7.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thuja Green Giant

Oh yes this will grow here in full sun. There is a house nearby with a beautiful hedge of this.

How about lady banks roses? Don't they grow fast and tall?

They do and I planted a long (150') fence line of them. What we did not know then, but do now, is that you should not trim them with hedge trimmers. it has to do with how new growth is produced, but I'm short on the particulars right now. LB's are best pruned by using loppers and cutting canes close to the ground or the main trunk. This is way too difficult with a long hedge of them. Ours hang into the alley and the garbage truck driver reports us if/when the canes begin to touch his mirror so hubby has whacked them several times with the electric hedge trimmers.

So what has happened is the LB are all dead/dying in the middle and look like ...... well you know. We are slowly replacing with hop bush, which aztreelvr suggested above. I used to be on the bank wagon for LB hedges but no longer recommend for that purpose. Best if you can plant them and just let them go wild.

This post was edited by marymcp on Sat, May 31, 14 at 20:53