Advice for total novice

[dragonDan]

Hi everyone, would love some advice from you experienced gardeners ....

We have a small garden 30 x 40 foot.
It is fence to fence fake grass (previous owners).
We really want to plant some shrubs to give a bit of colour and cover the ugly fences but we cannot plant into the ground.
What can we get that is extremely fast growing with a very wide spread that can easily be kept in pots ??

Many thanks in advance.

How ugly are these fences?

Things in pots aren't usually as fast growing as things in the ground due to root restrictions, or are vastly expensive due to being bought larger.

Patience is the first skill you have to learn as a gardener.

Have you the ability to let things climb up these fences?

Bamboo can be grown in planters, goes like clappers and screens in no time. Have seen it being used very nicely indeed atChelsea flower shows. Long narrow rectangular box type work well. Could put other pots with interesting specimens in front of the bamboo, instant architectural garden design 😎

Can you attach anything to the fences, like bamboo screening? Alternatively, I've just bought a planter with a trellis attached to the back so that you can grow plants up it without having to nail trellis to the fence.

If you're just looking for something quick and colourful to cover the fences this year, then decorative fence planters filled with annual seeds and bedding plants would be the quickest, most effective solution.
Some ideas here...

www.decorhomeideas.com/fence-planters/

If you wanted tall plants in large pots on the ground, you could try some tall flowering annuals, hardy annuals and some perennials, which are likely to be faster growing than shrubs. This will give you some speedy colourful plants to enjoy whilst the shrubs are developing their growth in the first years.
Most of these will grow 4ft to over 6ft, if you pick the taller varieties:

Sunflowers
Tithonia rotundifolia (Mexican sunflower)
Amaranthus
Cleome
Verbena Bonarensis (grow as an annual)
Cosmos (tall varieties)
Rudbeckia 'Herbstsonne' (Black-eyed Susan)
Atriplex hortensis (purple orach - it's edible)
Phaseolus coccineus (edible runner bean, but has attractive flowers)
Nicandra physaloides (shoo fly plant)
Solanum laciniatum (kangaroo apple - fast growing shrub suitable for container)
Some Snap Dragon varieties, Lupins, Dhalias
Hollyhocks
Aruncus (Goat's beard)
Filipendula rubra ‘Venusta’ (Queen of the Prairie)
Leonotis nepetifolia