Lilac hedge advice?

[CinVasko]

Hello! New member here, so happy to have found this site. I hope I may get some advice on my question, which is about creating a hedge with syringa vulgaris. I am thinking about creating a long privacy hedge, and I am very fond of old fashioned lilacs so I am considering those, even though it wouldn't be a 4-season hedge. The hedge would run east to west, be anywhere from 25 to 50 feet long and the width of the hedge could be 10 feet or more - it is a large lot I'm on. But I would prefer to keep it pruned to a neat size/shape for my neighbor's sake, however I have no neighboring structures to worry about. This is my back yard, and there is about 30 more feet of land past it that belongs to my neighbor. It's a vacant lot because they actually live at the end of the road within a chain-linked lot. This odd strip of their land is just adjacent to mine. They never use it, but they mow it. They have no problem with me planting whatever I want. I am a member of the Arbor Day Foundation and they offer 12" to 18" seedlings and suggest planting 3' to 5' apart for hedges. Does that spacing sound good to you? Obviously I'd like to get them to fill in as fast as possible, but I wonder about air circulation. Also was wondering about the rate of growth. Any advice? Yay or nay for lilacs as a feasible hedge? Thank you for your time! Sorry! Forgot to mention I am in z6, the Appalachian mountains of Virginia, and the hedge site is in full sun, on a slope with good drainage.

 

[Jason Douglas]

Miss Kim or Korean lilacs respond better to shearing/hedging than common lilac and dont have the powdery mildew problems either.