Quick grower to screen front of house?

[VintageGardenia]

Our front garden is walled (about 4.5 feet high I think) but passersby can easily see in to our sitting room where I MN work. Last year we planted some beech inside the wall but it's hardly grown at all and I think some of them are dead. I'd like something woodsy and native, if possible - so not bamboo - can anyone suggest something that will give us a bit more privacy?

What height do you need and woudl you like it to be evergreen?
How much sun does the border get and what is your soil like?

Ideally I would like it to be evergreen, though we did choose the beech because of its lovely coppery leaves in winter. It is quite shady, shaded on one side by the wall and then it's in the lee of the house as well. I am not sure what the soil is like, other than v dark and claggy. Nothing has done well in that particular bed, come to think of it.

I think something to six foot would be adequate, though I realise I am going to be blocking light from the house. I think I'd prefer my privacy though.

If you want native, evergreen then Yew or Holly might be best - probably not very fast growing though - so you might have to shell out for some biggish plants to get privacy quickly. Another alternative is Pyracantha which is pretty fast growing and evergreen but not native I think.

What's your budget?

I'd be tempted to get some flowering trees. Crab apples are lovely. Admittedly they're not evergreen but you get beautiful blossom in spring and crab apples in the autumn. Even when the tress are bare the branches should work well as a screen, without blocking all the light as (say) a conifer might. Try googling Malus John Downie.

trees

I wouldn't mind some nice fruit trees, I wonder would they be sufficient though.

I hadn't really thought about budget, although having just heard that a new piece of glass for my oven door is going to be 200 I might have to grow something from seed instead .

Hooly as suggested is great, native, evergreen, good for wildlife and will grow in shade.
JC van Tol is dark green and more or less spine free.
Portuguese Laurel is another good option, all the qualities as above though prob loess good for wildlife, but its not native.
Have a look here for ideas
www.botanica.org.uk/HedgingCommon.htm

HOLLY even, whoops!

I agree that malus would not be as good a screen as (say) holly - but it would not cast so much shade and would, in my view, be prettier to look out on as you MN work hard.

eucalyptus is a nice tree

If it's native and evergreen, that does mean holly or yew but slow

Pyracantha isn't native but can grow anywhere fairly quickly. White flowers in summer (insects) and berries (for birds) in winter, lots of dense growth for birds nests ... so it's an OK sort of compromise.

Hawthorn is another option, not evergreen but good screening and good for wilflife.
Guleder Rose is another good deciduous native with lovely lace cap flowers, pretty maple shaped leaves, good autumn colour plus berries (much loved by birds).

www.botanica.org.uk/Plants/HedgePlants/Crataegus.htm

www.botanica.org.uk/Plants/HedgePlants/GuelderRose.html

Eucalyptus is native to Australia so is can look quite alien here, also it's no good for our native wildlife at all.

That's a good link, thanks Pannacotta.

There is holly growing in a nearby bed so I suppose I can be guaranteed it will thrive there. Imagining a holly screen at the wall it does seem dense and dark so I wonder am I really looking for as thick a hedge as I think I am. Pyracantha might be good... the malus is vv pretty but I am not sure we are sunny enough.

Thanks everyone for your help! Some reading to do this evening & swooning over garden book pictures which I will never replicate!

Am on a roll now!
How about VIburnum tinus?
Not native (as far as I know) but easy to growm, evergreen, flowers for months, berries good for birds and not as dense as Holly, also its very easy to clip...

www.botanica.org.uk/Plants/HedgePlants/Viburnum.htm

Or Amelanchier which is the prettiest of the lot but not native or evergreen, but it is good for wildlife (berries in summer loved by birds).
Again has good interest over the year (which IMO is really key when choosing a very visible hedge). It has pretty blossom, good foliage, berries in summer, good autumn colour and a nice framework of branches in teh winter.
We have one outside out back door and I think its lovely all year round.

www.botanica.org.uk/Plants/HedgePlants/Amelanchierlamarkii.html

Crossed with you there - will look at these too. I think we have hawthorn in the back.

I should have said native for me is native to Ireland but I'm sure they are pretty much the same native plants. Hawthorn is magical here I think . Fairies, etc.

Vintage, i've been looking for similar thing and i think i might go for Euonimous - which is, i think, evergreen, variagated - so quite light compared to some, and is tall enough for privacy.

Yes it's lighter, quite yellowy in fact though there are lots of varieties here's Japonica. That's five to seven feet in five years though which may be too slow unless I can afford something already mahoosive!

I'm going to go to the garden centre tomorrow and have a look at viburnum and pyracantha I think. & I will write down Amelanchier which I've never heard of but looks quite fab & ask about that too.

Thanks very much everyone.

I went for a griselinia variagated in the end. Looks similar to a Euonimous but taller. Which did you go for Vintage?

Well I have managed to procrastinate even though I would have had plenty of opportunity to buy and plant this weekend . After talking to garden centre staff (fatal) started considering a willow trellis screen for instant privacy, to be "decorated" with a flowery climber, however it may not be practical to install given the beeches growing near the wall. Also not sure how I feel about trellis on top of wall, as it would be - looks a bit daft, maybe.

The gris. looks lovely, spike.

I saw in our local garden centre some nice metal trellis which can be used instead of normal trellis. That could be an option maybe?

Ah ha - was just going to suggest trellis on top of wall - I think it looks lovely! Then you could plant all sorts of things that would grow really fast. Like Virginia Creeper / Boston Ivy, Honeysuckle, Jasmine, etc etc.