Bamboo as a screening plant

[numpty with a crowbar]

Afternoon all, Been discusing the idea with my better half about buying bamboo as a screening plant to shade us from the neighbours.
The brains of the relationship wants to know how fast it will grow, and sadly I ain't got a clue.
Now I appreciate this will probably elicit the response:-
"Go to cupboard, take out ball of string, unwind random length - there you have the answer", or possibly "like the clappers"; but in a south facing garden up north, has anyone got any rough guesses how much height it'll put on in a season? I'm assuming if I keep on top of the hight it'll make it more bushy / thicker screening too??

Sorry for asking a daft question.....

 

[Thermo]

twice as long as the middle to the end


depends on the variety, some are very quick growing and are excellent as screening plants. have a look on the rhs website, should give you the info you need.

 

[breezer]

agree with rhs site, i have some and do you think it will grow fast or tall? nah, must be wrong variety, but it does look nice

 

[numpty with a crowbar]

twice as long as the middle to the end

Bah!!!

Fair enough... I'l bob over to the RHS site & see what I can find.. Or I might ask the better half to do it... She does the researching and I dig holes / do the heavy work

Cheers folks

 

[Pushfit]

Hi,
Bamboo makes wonderful screening.
Each year the new shoots will quickly grow to their full height. My bamboo throws new shoots which grow to about sixteen feet in a few months. If you cut it down to a shorter height it does not grow bushy, it just stays short till next year, and since most of the pretty leaves are near the top cutting it short just makes it look silly and rather pathetic.
Some bamboos are very invasive and you will need to control them with concrete slabs set into the ground or similar. Others form clumps, though some of them form very large clumps!

It is very easy to take cuttings, so if you go this route don't buy too many. Plant one, wait till next autumn and take your own cuttings.

The RHS website will indicate whether the ones you are interested in are invasive or not and their expected height.

However, the larger ones do look particularly stunning in the winter sunshine, and the sound of the wind in their leaves is really lovely.

 

[MasterAbacus]

Hi,
Bamboo makes wonderful screening.
Each year the new shoots will quickly grow to their full height. My bamboo throws new shoots which grow to about sixteen feet in a few months. If you cut it down to a shorter height it does not grow bushy, it just stays short till next year, and since most of the pretty leaves are near the top cutting it short just makes it look silly and rather pathetic.
Some bamboos are very invasive and you will need to control them with concrete slabs set into the ground or similar. Others form clumps, though some of them form very large clumps!

It is very easy to take cuttings, so if you go this route don't buy too many. Plant one, wait till next autumn and take your own cuttings.

The RHS website will indicate whether the ones you are interested in are invasive or not and their expected height.

However, the larger ones do look particularly stunning in the winter sunshine, and the sound of the wind in their leaves is really lovely.

Yours GRow 16ft tall...????? In one season.... What type is that.... it love some..... Screening is a wonderfull thing....

 

[paulandlaura]

Most varieties are slow to establish but then go very tall and like the clappers. Your neighbour will be having inch thick runners popping up in the centre of his lawn Some of the big leaf varieties are also a bit messy at certain times of the year.

 

[Pushfit]

My bamboo, if I can spell it even almost correctly, is Phyllostachys aureosulcata spectabilis. It has golden yellow stems with a green stripe running between the nodes which alternates from node to node.

It is invasive and I have mine contained in a bed that is about thirty feet long by four feet wide surrounded by concrete slabs cemented into the ground vertically. I dug it over and added a good dose of bonemeal, and then planted the transplants. It is really lovely in all seasons of the year, and of course provides excellent screening.

Early in the summer new shoots appear as if by magic, and then grow to full height in a couple of months. In my garden the final canes are about an inch in diameter. The full height is about 26 feet but in my garden I reckon it gets to around 16 feet or so.

Take a look here http://www.bamboogarden.com/Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Spectabilis'.htm