I am trying to come up with some ideas for fence row plants that will do well in shade. They will have a few hours of sunlight each day but that is it.

The catch is that I need them to be fairly fast growers as the idea is to use them to help "contain" my small children. We have a fence for most of our back yard but my brother has been building this gigantic play set complete with towers and bridges that required us to remove some of the fencing.

I can always make fencing to match what the last homeowners put in but I'd rather go with a much more natural look.

I know that nothing will really keep the kids in the back yard but I want this to serve as a visual reminder and to slow them down if (when) they make a break for it.

They all love raspberries and that was my first thought but I don't think any variety will produce much with so little sunlight. Rhododendrons or Azaleas would be nice but they would take to long to get to a decent size. I thought about a huge swatch of ferns but they'd just roll around in them. Forsythia was also a thought.

I think my best bet is to do a combination of slow and fast growing, planted very close together, and then remove some as they get bigger.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jim