Can anybody recommend me a fast growing shrub please?

Hi guys, my parents have got new neighbours and have asked me if I could plant something in their garden to give them some privacy, as the neighbours house overlooks their garden, so something that grows fast with year round cover would be required, any advice would be warmly welcomed
Thanks in advance.

 

Hi Evelyn, I'd plant a Eucalyptus gunnii. Although they make big trees if allowed to keep growing, they benefit from being chopped back every few years as they then produce very pretty juvenile foliage. If your parents aren't enamoured at the thought of that, then Eleagnus ebbingeii, either plain olive green or one of the variegated cultivars like 'Limelight' might suit. Not quite so fast-growing, but evergreen with small scented flowers.

 

Thanks so much noisette47, I have bookmarked those plants on my desktop so I can show my parents on Wednesday, you wouldn't happen to know of any others as well would you that attract insects...or do evergreens not really attract insects, my mother can be difficult to please at times so the more options I can give her the better lol
Thanks again

 

Fast growing = easily gets out of control Evelyn. New neighbours eh? Not as "nice" as the ones who have gone....
An ornate fence would be my suggestion - with scope to plant flowering climbers to attract insects?
Jenny

 

You hit the nail right on the head there Jenny lol maybe by the time we've got something planted we will have warmed to them a little. Thanks for your suggestion as I hadn't thought of that the spot would be perfect for it too and the trellis mite provide some instance cover from the prying eyes of "the strangers" lol
FC she loves lavatera and we used to have one in the front garden of the house I was raised in so that would be an easy sell so to speak. Spoilt for choices now....

 

A couple of other options:

Cotoneaster Cornubia - grows quickly, is semi-evergreen, easy to shape, not a dense cover though probably adequate if kept nicely trimmed. Cheap to buy, easy to grow, nice berries.
Prunus - thickly growing and rapid, but needs constant trimming, can get out of control easily!
Photina 'Red Robin' - quite quick growing, will fill out nicely, easy to trim and shape, nice reddish new growth, cheap to buy.
Ceanothus - many options with many growth habits, choose carefully (Puget Blue is one to look into, nice sturdy and thick), do not buy Autumnal Blue despite being sold as hedging is very 'open', they are very easy to grow and keep trimmed.

Out of those I'd look at the Photina as they can be bought quite cheaply when a fair size and height and are easy to manage.

Good luck with your choice.
GG

 

Why stop at one plant for creating a hedge, a mix of a few plants could look stunning and give you variety through the seasons.

I recommend Plantify, from the one purchase I made from them as they seem to source from plant specialists and their customer service was outstanding.

Stay clear of T & M, they are pants !

 

Thanks GG, good choices I have a ceanothus myself in a pot that I bought that last year, coincidentally I bought a photina at the same time but that got sick and died on me not long after I bought it. ..I'd forgot all about that actually.

 

Thanks so much Yvonne. I don't think I could fit more than one plant there really though it's in the corner of the garden you see inbetween a summer house and the side fence it's probably a space of about 4 foot wide.

 

Ceanothus is a good option as long as its not an exposed site, Zanzibar is a lovely cultivar and the bees love them. Remember to prune after flowering though

Others I would consider are Portuguese Laurel, much more attractive than the usual common laurel, Cotoneasters, Photina's and even variegated Privets

 

Glad they are looking after you FC but they treated me appallingly and there are so many other plant suppliers out there and as I discovered, Plantify seem to act as a virtual middle man so if you want a particular plant variety, they direct your search to specialists in that plant. I will stress that I have only used them once. I also think it's good these days to look after the "little man" out there.