large shrubs which grow quickly in clay soil

[vegelady]

We have a wooden 6ft fence between myself and neighbours and on our side about 20 50ft fir trees, some have 3 foot trunks, planted before we lived there and not pruned! The trees are taking all the light, and are deceased and we have to take them down. I have started cutting back all growth I can reach (have a professional to do rest) and it is opening up us to the houses next door. We will hire a machine to get rid of the roots but I hate the fact that now our garden is so open to being watched by neighbours after being used to complete privacy

Can someone advise on shrubs which will grow maybe 10ft high, very quickly, which will grow in clay soil and also what I need to do to the soil to rejuvenate it. The bed gets sun about half the day as faces west. I would love to have large flowery shrubs which look pretty and i can then grow perannials in front of them and have a proper herbacious border but the garden books do not say how quickly the shrubs grow - I do not have a large budget as removing trees is proving expensive!

[hamsterqueen]

how about fruit trees? You can choose varieties which will grow to the height you want.

My friend has bamboo growing, grows quickly, sounds lovely when it moves in the breeze and a constant supply of bean canes.

Philadelphus and mallow grow like weeds here too. (we have gault clay soil)

[tamsin]

Pyracantha grow quite quickly and can be trained flat so you can plant in front - quite prickly though.

We've got clay soil, and removed a row of conifers a few years back. We dug it over and added quite a few bags of soil improver (garden centre compost). We've planted a mix, garrya, hazel, a cherry tree, and several others I can't remember the name off. Behind/between those we put climbers for more instant height and annuals like sunflowers.

[vegelady]

thank you I didnt think of fruit trees, and I'll get my gardening books out to look up the rest
Alison