I need to screen off a farmyard from the house and as there seems to be no known fast growing hedge that grows no more than 4/5 metres high I am looking at the idea of bamboo.

Can anyone suggest a fast growing well spreading bamboo suitable for peaty soils?

Thanks,
sara.

On Sun, 5 Jun 2005 11:36:36 +0000, sarasara
wrote:


I need to screen off a farmyard from the house and as there seems to be
no known fast growing hedge that grows no more than 4/5 metres high I
am looking at the idea of bamboo.

Can anyone suggest a fast growing well spreading bamboo suitable for
peaty soils?

Thanks,
sara.

Seems like a good idea in principle, except that I would have thought
what you _don't_ want is one that spreads, as they can be invasive and
a real problem. Phyllostachys aurea (or indeed any species of
Phyllostachys) is recommended for hedging. OTOH if you mean
'spreading' as in 'bushy', then think about Fargesia murielae or F.
nitida, the latter being slightly more upright. How fast they grow, I
don't know. A problem I foresee is that bamboos aren't cheap to buy
(P. aurea at £13 and F. murielae at £11 each at my local nursery), so
a whole hedge could work out expensive.

There are a number of moderately tall, fairly fast growing shrubs that
are used for hedging (e.g. Olearia traversii, Eleagnus ebbingei,
Escallonia species) that get to the sort of height you want, but
they're not fully hardy so it depends where you are.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 5 Jun 2005 11:36:36 +0000, sarasara
wrote:


I need to screen off a farmyard from the house and as there seems to be
no known fast growing hedge that grows no more than 4/5 metres high I
am looking at the idea of bamboo.

Can anyone suggest a fast growing well spreading bamboo suitable for
peaty soils?

Thanks,
sara.

Seems like a good idea in principle, except that I would have thought
what you _don't_ want is one that spreads, as they can be invasive and
a real problem. Phyllostachys aurea (or indeed any species of
Phyllostachys) is recommended for hedging. OTOH if you mean
'spreading' as in 'bushy', then think about Fargesia murielae or F.
nitida, the latter being slightly more upright. How fast they grow, I
don't know. A problem I foresee is that bamboos aren't cheap to buy
(P. aurea at £13 and F. murielae at £11 each at my local nursery), so
a whole hedge could work out expensive.

There are a number of moderately tall, fairly fast growing shrubs that
are used for hedging (e.g. Olearia traversii, Eleagnus ebbingei,
Escallonia species) that get to the sort of height you want, but
they're not fully hardy so it depends where you are.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net


Bamboos are often cheaper than that depends on the nursery and the area and
if spreading is not a problem then they do indeed provide a good screen but
they tend to take about 5 yrs to get going

I have found that Mock Orange /Philadelphus is one of the fastest growing
shrubs which provides good shelter even in winter

Pyracantha is good but not as fast

It maybe better to think of erecting a net on tall poles and growing
nasturtians , honeysuckles , clematis armandii, clematis montana up the net
in the interim while the various shrubs get going

Bamboos are often cheaper than that depends on the nursery and the area and
if spreading is not a problem then they do indeed provide a good screen but
they tend to take about 5 yrs to get going

Not sure the one I have but planted a couple of years ago, supposedly
grows to 4m high. First year was some growth but not much and I thought
I would have problems but so far this year loads of new growth which
might take it to 1.5m which is still fairly slow from what I get as the
desired use in this case.

kev

Thanks Chris for a very comprehesive answer. Where I live is northern ireland which is damp with long winters and in a peaty area. So I had rather discounted shrubs, through infront of any hedging some rhodendrum would be introduced which eventually would grow up to do the job.

I have heard that you need to put down a vertical strip of heavy plastic lining to keep the bamboos from spreading, though my childhood memories of bamboo were that they were very easy to cut back and the ones cut down were useful for the garden.

I have since discovered a suppliers website in the uk and they have the variety you suggested and two others listed as good hedging bamboos, so just awaiting a quote.

Sure you are right about the cost so I propose to start with just one plant and subdivide new shoots to replant further along until the whole area is covered.....make take a couple of years!
Regards,
Sara.

On Sun, 5 Jun 2005 11:36:36 +0000, sarasara
wrote:


I need to screen off a farmyard from the house and as there seems to be
no known fast growing hedge that grows no more than 4/5 metres high I
am looking at the idea of bamboo.

Can anyone suggest a fast growing well spreading bamboo suitable for
peaty soils?

Thanks,
sara.

You might try Yushania Anceps (Arundinaria anceps). The jungle garden
at Burton Agnes, Driffield, E.Yorks has a very impressive and impenetrable
bamboo hedge round it of this species. Its probably about 4 metres
high, but it doesn't look as if they grew it in a year. Bamboos seem
generally tolerant of most soil types.

John McMillan

sarasara wrote:
Chris Hogg Wrote:
On Sun, 5 Jun 2005 11:36:36 +0000, sarasara
wrote:
-

I need to screen off a farmyard from the house and as there seems
to
be
no known fast growing hedge that grows no more than 4/5 metres
high I
am looking at the idea of bamboo.

Can anyone suggest a fast growing well spreading bamboo suitable
for
peaty soils?

Thanks,
sara.-

Seems like a good idea in principle, except that I would have
thought
what you _don't_ want is one that spreads, as they can be invasive
and
a real problem. Phyllostachys aurea (or indeed any species of
Phyllostachys) is recommended for hedging. [...]

There are a number of moderately tall, fairly fast growing shrubs
that
are used for hedging (e.g. Olearia traversii, Eleagnus ebbingei,
Escallonia species) that get to the sort of height you want, but
they're not fully hardy so it depends where you are.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]netThanks Chris for a
very comprehesive answer. Where I live is northern
ireland which is damp with long winters and in a peaty area. So I
had
rather discounted shrubs, through infront of any hedging some
rhodendrum would be introduced which eventually would grow up to do
the job.

Escallonias do well in many parts of N. Ireland.

I have heard that you need to put down a vertical strip of heavy
plastic lining to keep the bamboos from spreading, though my
childhood
memories of bamboo were that they were very easy to cut back and
the
ones cut down were useful for the garden.

Some bamboos will penetrate even tough plastic sheeting if they want
to.

I have since discovered a suppliers website in the uk and they have
the variety you suggested and two others listed as good hedging
bamboos, so just awaiting a quote.

Sure you are right about the cost so I propose to start with just
one
plant and subdivide new shoots to replant further along until the
whole area is covered.....make take a couple of years!
Regards,
Sara.

If bamboo is what your design needs, great. But if it's just because
you're looking for something to do the job, had you thought about
what would be in keeping with a farming area? I don't know your
situation, but in some places they look very much out of place.
Perhaps a more traditional, and cheaper and probably quicker, mixed
deciduous hedge (hawthorn, blackthorn, a few elders, maybe a damson
or three) would suit you better, and you'd get flowers in due season.
What's growing well in the local hedges?

--
Mike.

In article ,
(Chris Hogg) wrote:

How fast they grow, I don't know.

Mine is growing at several inches a DAY right now but around the
beginning of July, I expect it to stop. You could call their growth
habits "unique" :-)

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com
A useful bit of gardening software at http://www.netservs.com/garden/

Janet Baraclough wrote:
I've deleted the post where someone suggested phyllostachys as a
hedging plant. I'm not sure that's a good idea :-)

Two years ago I planted a single plant of p aureocaulis from a 6" pot,
thinking it's a clumpforming one. Last year, it put up a couple of
modest little culms close to the originals. Yesterday, I was weeding
that bed and looked around for signs of new ones coming up in the same
spot..no sign. Then I became aware of something jabbing my bum, and
found I was squatting on top of a 20 " spear about 18 inches away
from the original plant.

Then I spotted loads more spears, coming up in a ring around the
mother plant with a diameter of nearly three feet. Talk about not
seeing the wood for the trees. I'm revising my notion of "clump".

Fortunately the bamboo is planted in a walled raised bed so for the
momnet it's still contained. The stone walls are about 1 ft higher
than the surrounding lawn. Will this be deep enough to restrict the
bamboo's roots, or will they dive underneath it?



in a 5m*4m area I removed 30m of runner from a single plant of the Golden
Bamboo last summer.

British books have it down as clump forming, American hot climate books have
it down as a notorious runner!

pk

On Tue, 7 Jun 2005 13:33:54 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:


I've deleted the post where someone suggested phyllostachys as a
hedging plant. I'm not sure that's a good idea :-)

Two years ago I planted a single plant of p aureocaulis from a 6" pot,
thinking it's a clumpforming one. Last year, it put up a couple of
modest little culms close to the originals. Yesterday, I was weeding
that bed and looked around for signs of new ones coming up in the same
spot..no sign. Then I became aware of something jabbing my bum, and
found I was squatting on top of a 20 " spear about 18 inches away from
the original plant.

Then I spotted loads more spears, coming up in a ring around the
mother plant with a diameter of nearly three feet. Talk about not seeing
the wood for the trees. I'm revising my notion of "clump".

Fortunately the bamboo is planted in a walled raised bed so for the
momnet it's still contained. The stone walls are about 1 ft higher than
the surrounding lawn. Will this be deep enough to restrict the bamboo's
roots, or will they dive underneath it?

My suggestion.

My local nursery describes it as 'non invasive' and 'the best bamboo
for hedging', and a book I have on ornamental grasses says it runs in
warm climates, but much less so and manageably in cool ones. But
'warm' and 'cool' aren't defined. Perhaps the UK is getting warmer!


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net