What to replace buddleia screening neighbors

[MaryPopped]

We have an old half dead buddleia at the bottom of the garden which, while not completely screening the house just on the other side of the fence, certainly obscures it and softens the harsh lines of the straight fence and boxy house. Dh is very keen to get rid of it as it's rotting and he thinks the branches and buds look dead most of the year. I don't quite disagree but am really hesitant to remove something that serves such an important purpose.

Any ideas what we can replace it with that would do well in rather damp north facing border? Love smoke Bush, but don't want bare twigs all winter.

Buddleia? They can be pruned very hard, so if you've had a bad day get to it. I like beech (hornbeam maybe if it's very damp) and a beech hedge can be grown cheaply if slowly, it changes colour through the year but ... We don't know how much room you want to commit to this?

Cotinus likes sun, so won't love a north facing border!

You basically want a couple of large evergreens that like shade. Unfortunately, if you want them big, it will cost quite a lot more than putting them in small. I think, in cost terms, I might be tempted to cut the buddleia back a bit, and plant some shrubs in front - then, when these are sufficiently large, remove the buddleia altogether.

• Viburnums! Some of these like shade and damp. Tinus 'Eve Price' is evergreen and will give dense screening.
• Fatsia is one possibility - this grows quite large eventually., and it has a strong structural form with big leaves which means that it looks quite good at the end of a garden.
• A variegated holly - perhaps one of those with a gold leaf - would look nice.
• Mahonia x media 'charity' is also tough, evergreen and structural.
• Cornus - dogwoods, with the really bright sticks in winter - these can look sensational at the end of a garden. You can get bright red, bright green, and fiery-coloured stems.
• If your soil is acidic, you might get away with a rhododendron.

bamboo? You have to make sure you pick the right variety so that you don't end up with a garden full of bamboo plus you have to be careful about when you cut it back, don't take off the top before you have the right height. But it grows very quickly and is good for screening.

Can I join in and ask what's a good bamboo red hat ? I wanted to plant this to screen bottom of garden fence but am not very knowledgeable, it's damp and shady

I have Fargesia Murielae in the deepest, dankest darkest corner of my north-facing garden.

Yep, Fargesia Murielae is what we have. It will grow to about 3 and a half-4 metres and is clump forming and so doesn't go completely mad like some of them do.

Ours grows well in a part of the garden which is north facing and shaded for much of the day

I had a lovely Himalayan Honeysuckle that grew well in my not south facing garden. It was lovely all year round as it has bracts rather than flowers