Fast growing plants for shade

[Betsymabel]

I’m trying to find some plants for one side of my garden that will grow quite high in shade if anyone can suggest anything?
It’s for a privacy issues as my neighbour looks over the fences every day so ideally something that grows upwards of 6 foot to block him out, appreciate any tips!

Elder. You will have flowers and berries and good for wildlife. They can tolerate dry shade.

Second elder. If you want to keep it at 6ft cut it down each autumn and it will grow quickly the next spring into
a thick bush rather than a tree. It takes very hard pruning. Buddleja also grows quick for privacy.

Yes Flo Most of us can't stand to see something that is uncontrolled, sadly it's the reason why our natural world is fast disappearing.

I LOVE elder too Tumble It does self seed everywhere though. Oh dear

@brambleberries

Buddleia.

This, we have some in a border like the one you describe and they’re very healthy and would easily hit over 3m if left.

Yes Sock Buddleia is fast growing and great for insects esp, butterflies of course they do need pruning every year though.

@ppeatfruit

hedgehopper that view is a myth, I have ivy climbing up many trees and it doesn't damage any of them, it is extremely good for the birds (having the latest flowers in the year which provide nectar for the late insects too) We also have ancient walls around the garden which are mainly ivy, when I say ancient I mean 500 years old and they are still standing! Nature needs undergrowth. and overgrowth!

I was told this by our arboreaculturist.

Ivy destroyed the tree in our garden, it was there before we moved in. It has also broken several fence panels and damaged a wall due to neighbour letting it run riot everywhere. I cannot use one of the flowerbeds at the moment due to bricks falling on it, all due to ivy. It has also grown into our shed via the floor and back wall which is impossible to reach to remove it, so far have had to replace parts of the shed.

I like it for the wildlife but replacing fences and sheds isn't so good.

No true, fences are difficult with ivy , maybe keep it pruned? Possibly your tree was old before you moved in , one of ours is looking sad now but it was probably about 30 when we moved in!

What about a cherry laurel? You can buy large-ish plants cheap as chips from big box stores (B&Q, Homebase) and they'll grow quickly.

Nice evergreen foliage, nice-ish candel-like flowers in spring. Can be shaped, pruned - whatever you need!

Also it wouldn't grow up the fence - you could shape it as a hedge or train it into a small tree.

My experience with cherry laurels are not completely positive. They're very large leaved, much bigger than normal hedging, they grow relatively fast but not THAT fast! Apart from their flowers (that do attract insects in the dozen that is the best part!) they aren't very pretty!

Oh they do make good shelter from the sun!

I’m not a cherry laurel fan, very overwhelming. But do like one of the newer airier fatsias.

Dogwoods are fast-growing, some of them flower and some have pretty -colored twigs before they come into leaf. If you trim them as a hedge they break oit into lots of twigs, not sure buddleia would do the same. You might to think about how much privacy your choices would offer at this time of year before things are in leaf?