Photinia "red robin" alternatives for tall hedge/screen

[JackReacher]

We recently moved house and the garden is a bit of a blank canvas. One side of the garden has a relatively high fence at 2.5m tall, and its over looked by a couple of houses. I don't expect to block out their view of our garden entirely but it would be nice to block out most of the ugly fence.

Key criteria:-

1. Ideally evergreen, but something that keeps dead leaves through winter might be considered
2. Grows to a height of 3-4m, or can be easily maintained at such a height.
3. Relatively quick growing
4. Tolerant of damp ground and partial shade
5. It's going to be planted about 1m from the retaining wall that forms base of the fence, so I want something with unobtrusive roots that won't cause a problem for the wall.

Red robin seems like a sensible choice, but would like to consider all options. I quite like bamboo, and it's fast growing, tall, and narrow so won't rob too much space from the garden, but even if I get a clumping variety I'm worried it's roots may cause problems for the wall, or start to run wild.

Photo of the fence

[JackReacher]

terry tibbs said:

http://majestictrees.co.uk/garden-screening-trees/...

put your requirements in their search engine

not affiliated with them but use them professionally along with others

Thanks, that's a great link. Will look at some of the options it suggests, and also Laurel

[JackReacher]

Thanks all, maybe a variety will create more interest. Will investigate the options further.

Pleached trees do look nice, but presumably take a lot of upkeep?

The bamboo option - it was my initial thought, and a variety of colours could look really good. Just worried they may get out of hand and look untidy. I've had issues with running bamboo before and keen to avoid that at all costs. I know clumping varieties are suppose to be much better but still have my concerns.