all gone Our neighbours have just cut down a whole row of trees and shrubs, so many I can’t bear to name them all. Our privacy has been destroyed. This sucks really hard. No, the neighbours aren’t evil; they have a groundwater/drainage issue. If they don’t fix it, their house will slide into the ravine. But, still, we are suffering.
So now I throw myself upon the kindness of the intarweeb and ask the gardeners among you: what grows very tall very fast and doesn’t cost too much? We’re going to need something about 12′ high (minimum), and, oh, twenty feet wide. And dense. A happy habitat for birds is a plus. We have drainage concerns and construction of our own, so we may or may not be able to plant deeply-rooted thing. (Tonight will be the night of rooting about in old documentation to find ancient blueprints and our Form 17, the real estate disclosure/declaration provided by the previous homeowners about Issues. Yeah, lotsa fun.)
I’d be particularly pleased if we could attract hummingbirds with the new plantings. We have a lot around here, but they seem very stupid–always trying to drink from the climbing roses at the front. So something brightly coloured and scented with droopy flowers would probably work. Mainly, though: tall and thick and fast. Evergreen preferred.
Nicola Griffith 
Leylandii is a type of Fir tree that is used for hedging and is extremely fast growing, and bushy, so that could be the one.Just take the top off when its the height you want because it will just grow and grow! Saplings can be bought quite cheaply.Birds will nest in it but we don't know about Hummingbirds, don't get many of them in Wales!
Angie Thomas-Davis
Angie, Leylandii? Cool. I'll go look it up. Thanks.
Buddleia will grow about ten feet in a year, and has flowers that attract bees and hummingbirds. I have a white one that self-seeded in a crack in my driveway and seems indestructable, but you can get many different colours. Aim for the least hybridized for the most easy care. And I'm in BC, Canada, so we have similar climates.
Debbie, Buddleia sounds great. Adding it to the list. Thanks.
So sorry to hear about this!
Both of those sound like good options. There's also the willow hybrid that I keep seeing online.
I see those Buddleia's a lot around here. Those flower clusters look like big penises to me…. Pretty, with a nice color, but kind of funny looking too. :)
A couple notes about buddleia: it's deciduous, so it wouldn't provide much screening in the winter, and some varieties (Buddleia davidii) are considered invasive and aren't recommended by King County (see http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/animalsAndPlants/noxious-weeds/weed-identification/butterfly-bush.aspx).
You might consider clumping bamboo too. Evergreen, grows fast, more interesting than Leyland Cypress. No flowers, though.
There's going to be a lecture on hedges and screening at the Dunn Gardens on Nov. 18th, but the garden website says it's already full. Perhaps, as a famous author, you can wrangle an invite!
jennifer, Eric, now that I've looked at images, I recognise that we already have buddleia/buddleja in our north garden. It smells great, is v. pretty, but not suitable (way too bushy) for what we have in mind.
Bamboo sounds the most practical but, y'know, not pretty. Huh.
Thanks for the info on the Dunn Gardens lecture. I'm in the process of cancelling engagements (still) as opposed to adding them. But maybe there'll be roundup of info afterwards?
Please, please, please look into native plants in your area. Many bamboos are invasive. Many invasives are nonnative and useless to local wildlife.
I Googled Seattle native plants and got the Washington Native Plant Society (http://www.wnps.org/). I'm sure there's lots more info out there.
I'm on the East Coast, so have no idea what to recommend.
I feel you pain on the neighbors hatchet job. My neighbor has cut down two 100+ year old sugar maples. It pains me every time I look across his yard. One was close to the house, so I could possibly understand, but the other was healthy and beautiful. He hasn't done anything with the yard, not even a garden, so I think he just didn't like the leaves to rake.
You might take a look at http://green.kingcounty.gov/gonative/index.aspx .
The Master Gardeners are a great resource for our area!
This Leyland Cypress looks promising for fast evergreen growth. Then you could plant other stuff for color and flowering.
The only problem with cypresses is that you probably won't be able to plant anything underneath them or within 3-7 metres of them depending on their height because the root s give off some kind of inhibitor to other plants.
Clumping (non-invasive) bamboo would work and you could have something like clematis growing up through it for the birds. You could also build a screen or fence if there isn't one there and just have a variety of creepers going up the fence.
There's also a flowering plum (decorative, not for fruit) that has a narrow conical form (like a poplar) and very dark stems – almost purple. So you'd get the height anyway without the trees taking up too much “width” in the garden. Having a blank on the name but will look it up for you at work tomorrow – it's really pretty – darn, deciduous…Prunus Amanogawa is also conical in form.
I'll see if I can check out any botanical gardens in Seattle for clues.
Nicola —
You could look into Pacific Wax Myrtle, which seems to be a good choice for privacy hedge in your area and birds love. Then add a layer of plants like bee balm, butterfly bush, purple sage, cardinal flower, etc. in front to attract hummingbirds.
DianneorDi's suggestions look really good.
I had a look at the Washington Park Arboretum website. Could be an idea to go there and talk to one of their volunteers, tell them what you're planning to do and then you can check out any suggestions they have?
like the leyland cypress that jen d proposes. why not that plus a layer of bird love bushes that di di suggests? got to love the interweb!
Wow, all these suggestions are *great*! Will mull, ponder, chew on etc. Thank you. Keep them coming.
I was going to suggest bamboo, but then you would get pandas instead of hummingbirds. Are there hummingpandas?
Thank you all *so much* for all your ideas and research and kindness. We are very grateful for all the support. You all know how much we value the privacy and serenity of this place, and it's a bummer to have it broken: but (with all this help, for sure) we will fix it and make it lovely again.
I'm a bit late but:
If it were me, I would go with bamboo and use a nice vine plant like honeysuckle to wrap them with. It would give some lovely greenery, a flowering plant, fantastic coverage, and give the humming birds something to enjoy.
Rhodies. They thrive in Washington, hummingbirds love them, and they have glossy leaves all year.
Also, if you watch Craig's List there's someone giving them away (you come and dig, but given rain and moist soil it's not hard) for free, often even rhodies that are four or five years old.
Also, lilacs, and viburnum (which blooms in winter, is sweetly scented) are possibilities, though the lilac is not every green. It does however grow very rapidly here.
CLUMPING bamboos. Buy bigger pots (like Himalayacalamus hookerianus 'Teague's Blue' or Bambusa ventricosa 'Buddha's Belly Kimmei at about a 5 gallon plant for $39) and divide them into threes or fours when you plant them 4 – 5 apart. (More plants for your money) Then grow buddleia in front of them and vines up in them (as some have already suggested) and maybe pomegranates in between them for you and the hummers. We have the same problem. That is what I am going to do. Oh and you could sneak in one of the Bloomerang lilacs and some Scabiosa…