Best screening plants for 4m tall eventual height?

greensalad

My neighbours have unfortunately been decimating every living thing in their garden for the past few months. What was, when we moved in, a gorgeous selection of mature shrubs on the boundary including very mature acers, rhododendrons and more has been completely removed. The result is instead of the lovely privacy we once had a view directly into the entire of their garden, including into all their house windows. I absolutely hate it and am honestly devastated they've destroyed pretty much the entire of their garden but I guess they are allowed to so...

What can I do to put it back up, on our side? We haven't really done any planting in our garden yet since moving in. I would like something with an eventual height of 4m as this will give us back the old view we had, where all the buildings on that side of the fence are obscured from our garden and we can only see the forest treeline in the distance, which gave the appearance that we were very much "alone" despite having neighbours on this back boundary.

We already have some common laurel down one side, planted by the previous owners. I am considering that again but wondering if there's anything else. We don't want anything too deep, as it would be taking up most of our boundary beds which currently have shrubs in. So looking for something that will give dense coverage without growing too deep. 

DougMLancs

Hornbeam makes a good hedge, great for wildlife and keeps its leaves overwinter until the new leaves appear in spring. You can either have it solid all the way up or get pleached ones like these that would allow you to keep shrubs/herbaceous underneath. 

greensalad

Thanks, I had seen Hornbeam come up on my searches. It looks lovely. I looked at the pleached varieties, they are nice but so very expensive. But I guess it would work! May be worth it to get the privacy back.

When using pleached trees, do they continue to grow in height and are generally pruned back or not? Only because looking at something like pleached hornbeam I can see that the "clear stem" amount we would need would be 120cm (so that the foliage only starts at the top of the 4ft fence) but I'm guessing most people then keep the foliage only growing in the pleached trellis area. I would want it to go slightly higher. 

Ebe_Scrooge

4 metres?  That's 13 foot, pretty high.

There are lots of options.  I'm somewhat hesitant to suggest this, but ... Leylandii ?  Fast growing and will give a good dense barrier.  Despite their bad reputation, they can make an excellent hedge, so long as they're trimmed regularly.  It's when they're allowed to get out of hand that they become a problem.  Having said that, at 4m high they're going to be a right wotsit to trip the tops of - although, that's going to be true of any plant.

Beech is another popular hedging plant.  It's attractive, and keeps its leaves all year round - the old brown leaves don't drop until spring when the new leaves start to grow and push them off, as it were.

Eldi_Dos

DougMLancs said:

Hornbeam makes a good hedge, great for wildlife and keeps its leaves overwinter until the new leaves appear in spring. You can either have it solid all the way up or get pleached ones like these that would allow you to keep shrubs/herbaceous underneath. 

That is a nice hedge, whoever planted it and has been maintaining has done a nice job, but they can not have been legally maintaining what is other side of fence.

greensalad

Yeah between 3-4 metres would give us back the coverage that has been removed. The houses behind are bungalows, so it covered the rooflines when viewing from downstairs and gave the appearance that we were "in the forest" because the treeline of the forest in the distance blended directly into the shrubbery on their side of the boundary.

I did look at leylandii, I worry that it also sucks a lot of water out of the ground? And I think I would prefer something a bit more bushy and less level-surfaced, if that makes sense. I understand you can achieve that look by not pruning the hedge neatly with a hedge trimmer, but then as you say they start to run away with themselves.

Still considering more laurel, as it grows quite fast and is dense but also has a fluffy, natural look rather than just a wall of green.

Or possibly I mix up things that will grow to similar heights? To give a more natural, foresty appearance.

I'd like to start with something at the very least 2.5m tall, so that I can get to 4m as quickly as possible. 

Slinky

I do wonder about this fashion for pleached trees. Does it not create a 'sail' area that's at risk of the tree blowing over easily in high winds?

robatwork

I expect Cherry Laurel will be a good trade off of price/fast growing/evergreen. Bit boring to look at.

theoretica

If what you liked before was a mix, I suggest you might think about a mix again, and perhaps some things that will grow fast, and others slow.  Buddleia, for instance - maybe not what you want there in 5 years, but might fill a gap while other things grow.

alleycat`

robatwork said:

I expect Cherry Laurel will be a good trade off of price/fast growing/evergreen. Bit boring to look at.

I'd have said this too. Although, i agree, it's a bit boring to look at.

DougMLancs

Whatever you go for, get it bare root during the dormant season if you can (Nov-Jan) as they will be much cheaper for a 6ft plant than root-balled or containerised specimens. A lot of evergreens may only be sold root-balled though.

@Eldi_Dos thank it’s the nursery at work. Highways cut the far side though.