What is this?

[AWombWithoutARoof]

Greenfingered folk, can you tell me what this is? It's about 10 feet high and about 8 across. It seems to be growing from several trunks about 2 inches in a diameter. Is it a very large weed?

Bamboo?

I wondered about that. Does bamboo have those furry things like the one in the middle of the picture?

It's not growing from lots of canes like the bamboos I've seen, the trunks look like miniature tree trunks.

Looks like willow to me.

Have googled willow and the leaves look right, but these branches grow up not down, if that makes sense. Here's another photo.

Coyote willow (Salic exigua)?

Does it make catkins in the spring?

Whatever it is, it isn't that attractive. I would get rid of it.

Just moved in, so I don't know it's flowering habits. It has a few of those furry things at the moment.

Would it be really tricky to get up? We need lots of screening type plants, I was thinking of a hedge on one boundary, some bamboo and some climbers on trellis. Apart from some bedraggled grass this is the only green thing in the garden!

Do you know, I think it is coyote willow!

DH is a garden designer/landscaper/planter of these things
its a kind of willow, there are loads of them. the flower head in the middle is something else trying to come through underneath (he cant tell from the pic)
just cut it back in the spring and the new growth will be much better. they are deep rooting so it would be quite hard to dig out

its bamboo and it will spread everywhere. it was banned at my old allotment

When you say the new growth will be much better, what do you mean? It's already really bushy!

Not sure what to do about it, I'm not very keen on it but as the only green thing there I'm reluctant to nuke it!

Any suggestions for anything else that grows super fast?

Ever green honeysuckle has covered our trellis in one year. We used sweet peas for almost instant coverage, and the honeysuckle took on from them. As did clematis. We planted white buddleia (however you spell it) for a very quick hedge. You can weave the green shoots together and it gets thick quite quickly.