All ideas welcome. I am racking my brains for ideas.
What I need is a screening plant that will fairly quickly grow to 3-4m tall.
The situation comes because my neighbour has just explained that she will be removing all the trees and shrubs from the end of her garden, in order to build a storage shed. This will open up our garden and house to be completely overlooked from several directions, so I would like to get something in asap.
Something slender and ethereal would be fine, it just needs to interfere with sight lines, not block out the whole view.
However, it needs to grow in a slot about 30cm wide x 3 meters long, in between a brick wall (about 150cm high) and a concrete slab on the other side, on which sits a shed.
The brick wall is the boundary, it runs across the end and up the side of the garden, and the shed is in the corner with this small gap behind it.
It has to be self-supporting, I can't see any way of getting trellis or fence in to the necessary height, so it can't be a climber.
It can be deciduous (I'd have to clear the leaves out from behind the shed) or evergreen.
It will have to struggle up through the first 150cm of dense shade but will then get lots of light (so a standard or half standard tree would manage ok).
It will have restricted water due to the wall and the concrete, although the shed roof will drain towards it.
I was looking at a small silver birch tree, which would be ideal, but they have a shallow root system so I don't think they'd cope with the concrete or the restricted area, and the roots might make the wall fall down. I'm on a light clay based soil, although it doesn't crack.
Acacia dealbata - beautiful trees - but probably too slow growing, and perhaps too much spread.
Perhaps a buddleja might cope?
A eucalyptus is possible...not very wildlife friendly.
Photinia, laurel, too bushy.
Holly is lovely but is it too slow growing?
Bamboo? not keen, it's too alien for my garden, but if all else fails....