Wax myrtle is a good suggestion, but there are many good evergreen hedging
plants in the south. There are various kinds of euonymus, there are tea
olives (including the holly-leafed version), there are burford hollies,
carolina laurel, viburnums (lauretinus for instance), even camellias. If you
don't require uniformity, you could plant a variety of dense evergreens, and
have neat flowers or wonderful scented things at various times of the year.
Many of these things are not particularly expensive when small, but a few
(like camellias) might take 5-10 years to reach the height you want.
"Bobbie" wrote in message
...
I need some advice and am hoping that some of you very knowledgeable folks
can give me a little help.

We need a living privacy fence.

Here are the perameters we are working with:
* grows less than 20' high
* grows rapidly in the South (we're in Charleston, SC)
* hearty
* evergreen
* common
* not horribly expensive

Am I asking for the moon?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Bobbie