Certainly I have found ceanothus to be find for 'barrier' building (as opposed
to real hedging). "Concha" if you can get it grows very quickly and is a
stunning dark colour

But the drawback with this shrub is it gets leggy, taking up quite a bit of
room, and like all plants that give good results in short time can, on
occasions, be pretty short-lived. Not that that's too much of a problem - you
will probably be fed up with it and want to try something else by then!

Derek Carver
Oxshott, Surrey