Plants for screening that aren't bloody pampas grass!

[PenguindreamsofDraco]

We have a huge pampas just in front of the sitting room window facing onto the street. It was planted by our predecessors. It provides good screening but is so damn ugly and might make people think we're swingers

Are there any other obvious options? It's south facing with lots of sun.

We have black bamboo, which gives some screening, and isn't invasive like so many bamboos.

We also have grasses that have delicate, tall flowers, often bronze sort of colours. Stipa Gigantea has very tall but 'see-through' flowers, but most grasses die down in the winter, or need cutting over in Feb/March.

But if you want more of a permanent but not too dense screen, 'shovetheholly' may have some ideas in due course. (She is the REAL expert!)

I'll post a few links in a day or two, to show what I mean.

Oh thank you for replying! I've always been cagey about bamboo after previous neighbours planted some and it virtually destroyed our patio shooting up between the cracks 10 feet away.
I don't want a total screen. I would just like to be able to pop into the sitting room in my underwear occasionally without scandalising the neighbourhood!

Miscanthus Sacchariflorus
or arundo donax

There are lots of variations on Miscanthus, and this RHS link has several:

www.rhs.org.uk/plants/search-results?form-mode=false&query=miscanthus+sinensis

This link has several variations on Stipa Gigantea:

www.knollgardens.co.uk/a-new-not-so-giant-oatgrass/

'Karl Foerster' is good, and this RHS link tells a lot about it:

www.rhsplants.co.uk/plants/_/calamagrostis--acutiflora-karl-foerster/classid.2000012392/

Black Bamboo is evergreen, and not invasive:

www.palmcentre.co.uk/products/pni/phyllostachys-nigra-black-bamboo

black bamboo is my fave
in fact any of the tall phyllostachys
BUT they are non invasive because they are slow
and thus expensive

Knoll gardens is worth a visit with any excuse