boxwood too short?
Alberta spruce?
burning bush too short and too sparce?
rose hedge too short?
a mix of flowering shrubs and perennials too sparce for privacy?

I would love any ideas. Creative is good. I really like flowers and color - but it does need to serve it's purpose of providing a medium height screen. Thanks for your input!!!!

I am no expert, but boxwood would be too slow growing. Dwarf AB Spruce is also slow growing plus susceptible to winter damage.

Some roses, such as ones that are Rugosa type roses (Jens Munk, Hansa, Terese Bugnet, etc) can hit a height of 5 to 6 feet.

Maybe hedge cotoneaster (cotoneaster lucidus) would work good. It gets appproximately 5 to 8 feet high, glossy green foliage, blooms in spring, followed by black berries. Hardy to zone 2 as well. There are some houses here where they make a nice clipped hedge, or some don't trim them until they get too big.

Alternately, maybe peking cotoneaster, (cotoneaster acutifolius).

If you husband likes 'evergreen', perhaps woodward arborvitae ('cedar'), thuja occidentalis 'woodwardii'. It stays in a globe shape and grows up to 5 feet tall. Rarely needs pruning to keep it's shape and winter hardy.

Or, if you want taller, there are columnar (tall and narrow) types of arborvitae as well.

Regards,
Glen

Another shrub to look at is Alpine Currant (Ribes).

Best of Luck and cheers!