We had a mature screening of leylandi trees that blocked out our neighbours house that overlooked our garden. Unfortunately we have just has to have the trees removed as we found that one of the trees had been planted within a few feet of a man hole and was growing into it. Our garden is now overlooked and we are looking at the options for replacing the screen.
The facts are:
1) We have replaced the trees with a 6ft fence.
2) The area is south facing.
3) The ground has a high level of clay but drainage
is not a huge issue as our garden is on a
slope.
4) The existing trees had grown so wide we had
lost over 5ft of garden and ideally we do not
want to lose that much garden again with the
replacement i.e. something that does not provide
coverage from ground level would work.
5) The length covered by the leylandi was approx
30ft but the replacement does not necessarily
have to cover the whole length, there are just
2 windows that are the main focus for coverage.
Unfortunately, one of the windows to cover would
require planting within 1 metre of the side of
our house and 1 meter within a man hole to sewer
drainage.
6) The replacement does not neccessarily have to be
evergreen. The overlooking house is on the left
hand side of the boundary so blocking it out is
not essential in the winter, just in the summer
when we use the garden.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what we might plant to solve our problem?
Many Thanks

Trish

Willows can get rather large but respond well to pruning. Their wood is soft and they can get damaged in severe winds. They like moisture.

You could start out with several, and then eliminate some as they become taller.

I had a willow grown from a cutting on a small patio at one time. It only took a few years for it to grow over eight feet tall.

There are several types of willow, but we also had problems with the fluffy seeds blowing all over the garden and rooting on contact with the soil.

Sorry I can't offer any positive suggestions.