HiI want to plant a tree in a smallish urban garden that is fast growing to hide a bad view

Fast growing trees dont tend to stop at 20ft.

Sorry Paul, what you want doesn't exist. No fast-growing trees stop at 20 feet.

You might try some of the faster growing shrubs. Many of them will get that size, and can be trained into a tree-like shape.

I am also looking for something very fast growing to about the same height, what shrubs do you suggest Tubrethil ?

Paul how 'small' is your 'smallish garden' trees in general are not designed for small spaces. As suggested I think a shrub would probably work better for you. Do you need it to be in leaf all year?

If you dont prune a Forsythia or planting lilac they may work. You can get Cotoneasters that are evergreen and reach over 16 feet but may not be as wide as you want?

Laburnum; Malus 'John Downie'; Malus 'Gorgeous'; Sorbus aria 'Lutescens'; Crataegus varieties such as 'Paul's Scarlet' - all these are fairly small trees, so the trick is to buy one with a good long stem or trunk, so it's higher and taller and more mature when you first plant it. Not all the ones mentioned have good autumn colour though.

Nor evergreen Bamboo!

Judy or Paul, I garden in the "subtropical" low desert of Arizona, so I am afraid to recommend things for the UK's climate. From what I know of things that do well in the higher elevations of Arizona, I would check out the larger hybrid Hollies (Ilex), some of which are variegated, and/or have colorful berries. As Drc said, Cotoneasters are a possibility, too. some columnar Junipers and False Cypress (NOT Leylandii) are other possibilities, but they won't make a convincing tree shape.

Nor will they grow fast Tugb as already said not really possible.

Hmm. My info is that some of them will grow 2-3 feet a year, especially some of the I. x attenuata hybrids

Thanks Tugbrethil I much appreciate your advise. What we do with it is our own responsibility,... at least you made the effort to help !!

Bit of a sting there? I thought we all tried to help!

*shrugs & moves on*

Always count on you Beatty!

:-) See my "slug pellet" answer for "helpful" (lol)

Sometimes it's just not possible to come up with an answer - so much depends on individual taste or there are so many possible factors that the answer becomes overwhelming, so it's never written.

Um, Drc, the questioner did not ask for evergreen in his question... and anything with good autumn colour is usually deciduous - hence my list.
I am somewhat puzzled by not being included on the list of those who were 'prepared to help' though, Pauly - if you look at my answer, I didn't tell you what you couldn't have, I told you what you could.

To be fair, Bamboo, the "Thanks for trying, at least!" message came from Judyroundag, not Pauly.

Oh, bloomin hell, I never even noticed that - a sub text questioner and answerer. Sorry Pauly, and thanks Beattie for pointing it out to me. I do believe in pointing the gun in the right direction, so now my comment is aimed at Judy...

My comment, was aimed at Judy. But I did misread evergreens, Bamboo which is my mistake sorry for that.

We had a similar query very recently from someone who wanted theirs to be evergreen, that's probably why you mistook it, Drc.

Thanks Bamboo - I thought I had read evergreens somewhere.

Oh, well, I did try! : ]

You certainly did, Tug! You did the best you could with a big topic. I read the question and a possible answer was so long & with so many "undefined factors" I didn't start! Sorry to be so unhelpful.

Sorry if I offended anyone, but what I was trying to say was Tubrethil was trying to help,I wasn't saying other people haven't been 'helpful'..just that petty bickering has got in the way recently (and hey, now I'm part of that lol !) and it seems some of you are trying too hard to be 'one up' on everyone else, sorry if this 'stings a bit ,but if you re-read some comments you will see it's true. Am very grateful for all the advise I have been given, and have learnt a lot here . It does look now, though that you seem to be resolving your 'differences' and hope it continues.

Ps Bamboo if you look at the 'Salty' questions again( re black phys) and read my comments again,..will you still be 'pointing the gun' I wonder ? Think this is all just a big misunderstanding and hope now we can all wipe the slate clean. I will happily leave this site if you all feel I have been too harsh.

It seems a harsh judgement after 10 days Judy?
I answered this before your last post and now I am baffled more than ever! what has Salty to do with this question?

The 'Salty' comment was for Bamboo Drc. My comments were not 'judgements'. more like- observations. Once again many apologies to all if I have offended ..will stick firmly to just asking questions now ! I honestly didn't think my comment would have caused such an uproar. As I said ..can we move on now ..please ?

:))

Judyroundag appears to have deleted her membership...

Pity, I was hoping everyone could just shake hands and move on.

Good grief! Glad I've been out of touch for a few days - I note Pauly has not responded! This to me is the reason why you don't climb in and ask a sub Q on someone else's Q simply ask your own!