Fast, tall & narrow privacy hedge

[Otterington23]

Hello! So we moved in 3 years ago and the garden is now empty as everything was diseased/overgrown/a mess. We had a baby in autumn and then our neighbours just sold their property. We want to get some privacy asap as the fences are low. I’m thinking cherry laurel for height and speed, but how narrow could we realistically keep it? I know it can grow up to 2m wide but we would trim it twice yearly to keep it narrow.

any thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I will be planting beds in front of it also. Have considered shrubs but can find any stock with immediate height.

The trouble with fast-growing things is that they tend to keep on growing fast, outwards as well as up. If you are having a border in front of it, that's going to make it more difficult to keep pruning it.

Could you perhaps attach trellis to the existing fence, and put in some climbers instead?

Hi! I just wanted to jump on this post to bump it up as I am also in this position.
My garden is - or was - completely private. I have leylandi (?) hedges on all borders apart from 1, which I keep cut to a decent height. The one border where I don't have anything is where my neighbours have a giant leylandi hedge that they have not kept on top of. Anyway, they have started to take the hedge down. Obviously their prerogative as it's their hedge. However they now completely overlook my patio from their house. I'm a bit gutted to say the least! So I'm going to plant something my side, just looking for suggestions to fast growing, tall 'things' 🤣 I had a look at the price of well established leylandi and they're around £100 each and i reckon I would need at least 10!

I like red robin or Laural

It's
Not thin but can but kept trim easily and is fast growing not to invasive and looks much nicer than fir which can die and look scraggly.

I think leylandi will be cheaper than anything else.

Small leydandi will get to an established size very quickly so you could buy small ones and they will be huge in a couple of years.
Looks like tall ones aren't as pricey as you thought.
You can buy 2m tall ones here for about £30
www.hopesgrovenurseries.co.uk/shop/hedging/leylandii-hedging/leylandii-green-hedging/

@Happyinheels we went with fargesia robusta bamboo! It’s a clumping variety so the roots won’t spread. We actually had it at our old place where we created a hedge along a public walk path. By the second year it was thick enough that people would obviously be having to have a nose to see in! It sounds lovely in the breeze and the shadow it creates is really soft too. Don’t know why we didn’t think of it first for our new place!!

just adding it’s very easy to keep on top of. Just snip the canes when they reach a height you like and dig any new shoots up while weeding to keep the spread in check. Plus the canes can be chopped off and used for growing climbers/plant supports!

Don’t think the clumping variety won’t spread, many people make that mistake. Please, for your own future cash flow, plant them in steel pots, big ones!

By the way OP, I love bamboo too!

@EatCrow all plants spread off you don’t trim them, this just doesn’t run ☺️ it’s a variety our in laws had for almost 30 years with no issues and we had for almost 10, so quietly confident it’s a great option for hedging 😁 i think bamboo just gets a bad rep because of the running varieties but as long as it’s clumping then there’s no more upkeep than regularly trimming a leylandi or a laurel to control spread 🙌

I’m happy to be told I’m wrong! I did some research though and there are some YouTube videos showing the problems. Obviously you’ve been fine with it so all good. It does look beautiful though.

Thank you so much for the suggestions! I'll have a look at the varieties mentioned and thank you for the link - £30 is way better than what I found!
I love my garden, everyone always comments in surprise that it's not overlooked by anyone else 😩

Our previous owners had clumping bamboo - I dug it out in a very coarse manner and it had fairly shallow roots and there’s been no regrowth - the bind weed has been another story. I’m replanting the bamboo in biggish buried plastic pots, with the bottom cut out - should cut down on the upkeep and provide me with a bit of reassurance.

Neighbour successfully used bamboo confined to planters, no access to the ground soil. This allowed it to shoot up but not overtake garden.
It requires a lot of watering though, so worth installing a system.

Ime privet doesn't get as thick branches as laurel or beech, so remains clippable - you can by bare root hedging over a metre high.

Does bamboo provide cover all year round?
The red Robin looks lovely, for some different foliage to all the leylandi!

@Happyinheels yeah it’s evergreen ☺️

Someone mentioned watering, that’s only in the first year until established. This year we’ve only had to do it maybe twice so far as the weather hasn’t been hot enough and dry enough for long enough 😅

Just make certain it’s a clumping variety. Here’s what we had for 10 years with no issues at all, definitely doesn’t run and super easy upkeep!! Highly recommend this site as well, all plants have been so healthy and well delivered.
Charella Gardens - Fargesia Robusta Campbell

Our neighbours on the one side have red Robin and it’s also really lovely! Like you say a nice change in colour. Could even have it in tree form and do it pleached! They’re the ones that just sold though so fingers crossed they don’t chop it down either 🙈

Once established, yes.