Because you are so close to the road, you need to have plants that are both soil salt tolerant and will also tolerate having salty mist on the leaves and branches. Around me, the native white pines along the highway are all a nasty-looking orange for half the year or more from salt mist killing the needles, even 30-50 feet from the road. It's quite unattractive! I don't know what part of the US you are in, so I don't know what kind of soils you have, but I'm attaching a list of salt tolerant trees and shrubs from the Morton Arboretum in Chicago. That part of the country tends to have soils that are a bit on the alkaline side and more clay, unlike my acid coarser soils here on the east coast. Some of these plants will do well in either area, but others have a preference for certain soil types, so read up about them before you buy. (The tree list is first followed by the shrub list.) I notice that Rugosas are on the list, but regular lilacs aren't. I'd stick with the plants that are noted to have high salt tolerance due to your site. A couple of other thoughts: - Plants won't block sound at all. For that you need something solid like a berm or a fence, and I don't think you have a wide enough area to make much of a berm. - If you decide to do a fence for part of the distance, be sure to think about the color and material and how it will stand up to dirt and salt splashed onto it and how often you want to have to clean it. - I have often seen just 4 fence pieces used to designate an entry, on each side one parallel to the road and an attached one at the start of the path, perpendicular to the road. It sort of frames the entry and gives a tidy end to the shrubs. Like the linked photo below, but with 4 fence pieces instead of 2 fence pieces and an arbor. http://www.woodysinc.com/catalog/arbor2.html Or this with fewer panels http://www.walpolewoodworkers.com/fence-gates/fence/nantucket-picket.aspx#.UEIHNxysFcw - What is the right-of-way for the road? You probably don't want to install something that is on public property and can be removed next time there is road work done. Replacement could get expensive. Is there a drainage ditch by the road that will get retrenched periodically? Let us know what you decide to do. Here is a link that might be useful: salt tolerant trees and shrubs

Purple, how did you know my allergies are making me a snoring machine lately? LOL. I guess you really are always there ;-) I'm broke right now, so my issue is definitely more 'what do I have to work with here.' I still haven't gotten around to redoing that pole I made. Busy day yesterday. I think I may have the time (& extra hands) to do so today. My hubby has been laughing at me for carrying my plants in & out, in & out. I may have to bring them in again, depending on how the forecast pans out. So far, we've got a 10 day forecast with overnight lows above 50 (FINALLY! for the first time this spring!) but they keep dropping the forecast a degree or 2 at a time, so the lower nights, I'm just going to have to keep a close eye on it. I typically stay up later, anyway, so by 11 pm, I usually have a good idea if it's going to drop low or not. My home thermometer usually ends up with several degrees lower a reading than our Mesonet station (which is 10 miles north & up on a ridge, while we're down in a valley). I just really hope that my plants do well outside this year, it's made me sad to not have a place for them to put them out for the last couple years. I'm very glad they get to go out this year! :)

"tip of a little tongue sticking out" sounds exactly like a bud! You'll see soon enough, buds develop fast while new leaves will come through much more stedily. Normally I'd be happy to spray an Argyroderma at any time although I try to restrict it to when it is at least bright if not sunny. But you just repotted your plants, I imagine? Don't water, leave it week minimum, or even two. Mostly you won't have problems, but just occasionally you'll have a broken root or some minor damage that will rot if you get it wet, so why take the risk. Avoid very strong sun for the same period, plants with compromised root systems and dry soil are more sensitive to scorching or overheating. Again, not very likely with an Argyroderma in September, but a week of afternoon shade won't do any harm. As for the bud, if it has survived being bare-rooted and sent through the USPS then it can survive a week in dry soil :)

"How about you all? Frustrations? Need a safe space to get petty without people hollering "first world problems" at you? Please reply here." I just got a 2.0 rating from a customer out of a possible 5 with a note that I "was not very neat." Before I would begin this job, I informed the customer that I had no way of preventing removed pool grout from falling into the pool. Since he did not want the expense to drain and refill his pool, he assured me repeatedly that he had state-of-the-art pool filtration and that the sunken grout would be no problem whatsoever. I hosed off his pool deck at completion; he made no complaints, was very pleased, and paid in full. What the hell else could I do? Write the warning in the blood of his first born male child? Print it on his forehead? I told him what would happen, he told me not to worry, it happened just as I predicted and he wants to second-guess. Arrruuuggggg!!!