Hedging for VERY poor soil please?

[BigWolfLittleWolf]

Not a lot of space due to a big tree, clay soil with lots of grit baked rock hard from now until September or thereabouts, extremely hot and sunny in summer and vulnerable to wind.

I already have heucheras and primroses which do great and a rose which is getting on okay.

I planted a hebe which has gone very dry and droopy and I suspect is probably going to die, like many plants before it...

There is a mystery conifer of some sort that is okay but not thriving that I don’t like anyway and secretly hope it dies and the most recent addition; an escallonia donard seedling...

If the escallonia dies, what can I put in its place?
It needs to be something dense and tolerant of regular clipping.

Portuguese laurel.

Lonicera (honeysuckle hedging) is perfect - it looks like box but grows much much faster, and does well in any soil. And doesn't care whether it is in shade or sun!

Photinia seems to be surviving here in brutal clay, as do holly. Cherry laurel growing well elsewhere on the estate too

I second @buckleten - Lonicera nitida, dense, evergreen, thrives virtually anywhere and, as a bonus, provides nesting habitat for many small birds, especially sparrows, robins and blackbirds.

@buckleten

Lonicera (honeysuckle hedging) is perfect - it looks like box but grows much much faster, and does well in any soil. And doesn't care whether it is in shade or sun!

I was going to suggest lonicera nitida. It was planted here in the 1930s, when the houses were built, and seems indestructible.

Which is a shame, as I'D like it to die. It's technically on my neghbour's side, or I'd have it dug up. Part of it is rampant with wild clematis on his side, and I'm sick of having to pull it out. It gets everywhere and pisses off all the neighbours. It colonised 4 gardens last year, running along the back fences.