Thanks for the replies. While it would be a good screen I don't want to deal with the invasive nature of bamboo . Grasses are a thought but I'm not sure they would do a good enough job of screening. Fencing wouldn't look right and I was trying for more of a discreet natural looking screen.
I should have mentioned that where I wanted to plant has an elevation drop off of almost 10 feet down to a creek that flows next to the pond and horizontally is about 25 or 30 feet away from the water's edge. I was hoping that a shallow rooted evergreen would have more of an incentive to grow roots towards the lower wet creek area rather than towards the pond. There are already some trees growing near the creek bed that provide a decent screen during the spring and summer months. I'm not sure what they are but they are tall and straight with leaves that are aspen shaped have a fairly smooth grayish bark. The trees seem to be popping up everywhere. Now that the leaves are falling the screen is going away. Hopefully these will not be a problem.
