plants / hedge for screening

Hi all. our garden is approx 20m wide and 30m long.

Its slightly sloping and has an open aspect to the rear. Its south facing.

The only downside is our neighbour has a concrete sectional garage with an asbestos roof, and its approx 2 foot from the boundary.

The fence on that side is approx 6.5ft tall.
The options we have are -
Build some sort of small but tall structure on our side of the boundary, and train clematis or similar over the structure.
Plant shrubs to detract from the structure, perhaps add a couple of foot of trellis to the fence.
The third option is plant conifers such as thuja.

the boundary is only 2metres from our house.

I dont want to loose too much space in the garden hence I am loathe to plant conifers, but they seem the best option.
we do have a number of black bamboos in the garden, but as our property is in a exposed position these have suffered from poor weather conditions.

any ideas or advice

 

What about a nice Buddleja or two. They will reach about 8ft, bush out nicely in their first year, and produce masses of flowers in late summer. The only downside is that to keep the tidy you have to hack them down to next to nothing each spring, but they very rapidly come back.

 

I am fond of pleached trees - a hedge grown higher up - that would be at the height that the existing hedge stops. Ashridge Trees sell fan-trained Limes that are ready for pleaching. Not a cheap option - about £10 per metre (assuming 3M planting distance)

I posted some pictures on another thread in case of interest:
http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/Thread-Best-Trees-for-Screening-out-overlooking-windows.html?pid=407981#pid407981

 

sambucus nigra black lace is a great screen plant.its like a big jap maple grows anywere any soil 1.5M high and spread every year but drops its leaves in winter.
along a fence i would go with evergreen honeysuckle climber or a evergreen passion flower climber.
or and anything other than a conifer.
go for a ivy golden queen or a big escallonia rubra macrantha,or a fast growing Ceanothus.there are so much to choose from.so many choises such little time.