Does this exist, or is it all in my imagination?!

[WhatASillyPredicament]

Hi, I'm looking to plant a border along a fence boundary. I want to do it both for privacy and decoration. I would like the plants to be fast growing to 6 foot in height, provide plenty of privacy, while not pushing against the fence I share with my neighbours. Does such a thing exist? I want to plant then in a line so no gaps etc.

Sorry that should say *them, not then. I'm getting abit antsy to get something in place! I want to enjoy the garden, and hate the awkwardness currently!

Do you mean that you want a hedge?

No, some type of plants/conifers that don't take too much space up/press against the fence, but provide privacy and grow to 6 foot-ish.

That's what a hedge is.

Any alternatives to a hedge would be great.

And conifers rarely stay at 6ft

Privet is perfect for that. Conifers would be a problem and require significant work/could have negative effects upon the house foundations.

Oh right, for some reason I thought there was some sort of dwarf version?!

Thank you I will check out privet, is it easy to maintain/grow?

Bamboo screen (Live)

If you are not looking to plant an evergreen hedge such as laurel, or various evergreen shrubs which can be easily pruned and maintained at desired height etc, then that leaves plants such as rose shrubs, hydrangeas, foxgloves, delphiniums, etc all very pretty and tall, but not evergreen, so in winter will look bare.
The middle size garden on YouTube has some lovely examples of plants you can use for privacy.

To get 6ft height you will want to be looking at shrubs rather than herbacious perrenials. I guess you could have a very thin shrub border that you didn't prune, but that would basically still just be a hedge.

There are loads of different types of hedges so lots of different things you could use and you can mix different shrubs to add interest. Does it need to be evergreen? How much maintainence do you want to do? Do you want flowers or just a uniform background for the rest of the garden?

If you just want something quick with flowers on then you could bung a load of budleia in. You can get a beautiful dark purple one called black Knight. It will grow to about 2m and need hacking back once a year. It will grow to full height in one -2 years.

beech or horn beam which can be pruned to size?

But planted in pots and bury them... A lot of bamboo spread everywhich way.

Bamboo

Oh yes, definitely in pots (sorry)

Thank you, I'm wanting to plant in the ground along a fence boundary. I would like easy maintenance, as evidently from my posts I'm certainly not green fingered. They will have to be durable and easy to prune etc, and not bother my neighbours by growing/pressing against the fence, and as others said roots not going out too far.

I like flowers but mainly want privacy, so what ever the easiest quickest option would be, I'm also petrified of wasps!

@Geneticsbunny Budleia looks beautiful.

Look for anything that can be fan trained, cotoneaster, rambling roses, chaenomeles, ivy

If the budget was healthy yew would be my top choice.
Grows a good few cm's a year, once the correct hight will prune out lovely and fill out to make a dense hedge.

Buddlea will be really easy.

@Crumpleton Yew sounds fantastic, is yew easy to grow? It is only for 3 metres ish of fence, so hopefully wouldn't be too costly.

Obviously you have to keep it well watered for the first x amount of months, then it should thrive.

How deep is the border? Or how deep can you make it? If you want solid, evergreen instant cover then as PPs have suggested bamboo or laurel would work but it'll look a bit boring unless you plant something which gives more interest in front of it.

There are prettier options, like pleached trees with under planting but that's a pricier option.