Bamboo advice please

Hi ..
I'm as new-comer to the forum, and I'm not an experienced gardener. I'm hoping for some help with developing my skills.

First of all, I should say that our garden is more of a field, in that it's mainly grass surrounded by a thorn hedge with the odd tree and shrub here and there. We've organised some paving and decking around the house, but the rest is pretty much an open blank canvas. There's about 3/4 acre, I think.

First, I want to plant a screen to provide some shelter and privacy - hopefully for summer sitting out? The planting would be behind an open timber screen which forms the boundary to our decking. The area of planting would be about 4m in length and could be 1 - 2m in depth. The mature height would need to be a minimum of 2m. We live on the edge of the Peak District and can experience cold, windy winters. The soil is acid, and the sub-soil is clay - but we are on a slight slope so for most of the time the drainage is OK-ish. The roots of the plants will be shaded and sheltered by the raised deck and the timber screen provides some higher shelter on two sides.

I would like to use bamboo for this purpose (nice and bushy) but don't want to run into problems with the plants invading/getting under the decking. I know there are less invasive, hardy, clump-forming varieties (fargesia etc) and wonder whether these would be suited to the purpose. (I don't really want climbers on the screen as there is also a pergola which will have these).

Can anyone advise me please?

Also, I have a stone raised planter opposite the decking - I am wondering whether a clump of bamboo would work as a specimen here .. something 2 - 3m high would be about right with a spread of 1m+.

Again, I thought one of the Fargesia might work - the robusta, perhaps, as it's said to be very hardy - and, as a specimen, it will have to stand alone against the weather. It will have shade for part of the day from an out-building.

Any advice will be be welcome.
Thank you.

 

Hi Joan,

3/4 of an acre... lucky you!!

a lot of the fargesias - such as robusta, murielae, nitida - are really hardy and shouldn't have much trouble with the cold up there. they should also be tolerant of the wind. not sure how much you have to spend but bamboos can be expensive... would recommend visiting or contacting a specialist nursery to ask for advice and get the best quality plants.

best way of seeing what will work in your area is to look around for gardens to visit nearby and maybe talk to the gardeners there

good luck

emily

 

Thanks for the reply and advice, Emily .. I've seen a few bamboos in gardens around my area but they tend to be on smaller plots and therefore less exposed .. however .. I do have the wooden screen which forms a kind of sheltered corner so I think there's a good chance one of the hardier varieties would be OK .. I'm having doubts about bamboo for a 'specimen' plant because I have a land drain not far from the site where this would go .. although the drain is buried quite deep at this point I might be asking for trouble .. unless I plant the bamboo in a bottomless container?? ... I wonder .....!