Looking for shrub suggestions for a spot in my yard

[sharktickler]

Hi. I'm in Charlotte NC and would like to plant a few of something along a fence in my backyard. It needs to grow quickly to a height of 4-8 feet and be dense enough to obscure my view of the neighbor's tool shed and obnoxious porch lights.

Whatever we go with can't get taller than about 10-12 ft, because of a power line above the area. Also, this is a partial sun situation, shaded for part of the day.

I had originally thought about butterfly bushes, but they may not be "bushy" enough to serve as a visual screen and they need full sun, right?

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

[Marlingardener]

Here's the disclaimer--we are in Texas and don't enjoy the milder temperatures and better rainfall that y'all have in N.C., so you may want to research these suggestions a bit more. All are sun/shade and hardy.
Elaegnus, which is a grey-green evergreen rapid growth shrub that gets 6 to 8' tall, and about that wide. It does develop a few "fishing pole" canes, that are easily clipped off once or twice during the growing season.
Cotoneaster (c. lactcus or c. parneyi) also known as red clusterberry. Evergreen 10 to 12'. The other contoneasters are too short for your needs.
Burford Holly (Ilex corunta) evergreen, red berries on lants, gets 6-12' tall. Less spiny than other hollies, but the sticker at the end of the leaf can get you.
Willowleaf Viburnum (Viburnum x pragense) is evergreen, gets 6-10' tall, has white flowers in spring and sets red fruit that darkens with age.

Hope these suggestions help. We used to have the same shed/porch light view until we moved to the country. Now our view is our barn and the stars!

[rainbowgardener]

Ceanothus is a nice dense native shrub with fragrant flowers in late spring. AKA New Jersey tea, because back in revolutionary war times, they made tea from the leaves.

Kalmia, mountain laurel, is a lovely native flowering broadleaf evergreen, that is available in the catalogs hybrid in a number of dwarf, medium, and larger sizes.

and of course North Carolina is famous for its azaleas and rhododendrons!

[bullthistle]

I am in Charlotte so Eleagnus, I have plants, is out as is Kalmia, the first one gets too wierd, it goes off in different directions and is a pain in the A to prune, and the second one isn't dense enough. Burford also gets too fat, and it's a killer to trim, I have it on one boundary line. What I have on another boundary others will shout with disagreement, but they don't live in Charlotte is heavenly bamboo, yes it can be invasive but it stays narrow and looks great in the winter except for ice storms and people have asked me for plants and it will get up to eight feet plus. I say heavenly bamboo is you best bet because it will not take up much space and the naysayers are only that. I have lots of different plants along my boundaries and they all get fat and take up too much space except bamboo.

[planter]

Bull is right about being concerned with how broad something is gonna get. Narrow, up-right and dense and happy in less than a full sun situation..

I have what I think is an English Laural(sp) that is a great evergreen that easily lends itself to pruning if you wanted a narrow border. It also puts on a lot of up-right growth quickly. Biggest problem is I don't know if it would be happy in your clime.

Bamboo is never so aggressive a lawn mower can't keep it in check.