Good plants for screening

Hi all -- I'm new to this forum and I'm here seeking some advice from the experts if you're willing to give it.

We recently got rid of a massive clump of rampant bamboo inherited from the previous owner of the house, which I'm glad about, but it's left us feeling quite exposed. My wife is really sad about it, because the sparrows used to love it and now the mornings are a lot quieter than they were before. What I would like to do is find a good type of bush that's going to attract the birds back, get to 6ft tall and wide relatively quickly and then stop growing, and give good cover year round.

Any recommendations?

 

Another type of bamboo that is less rampant?

Fargesia or Borinda comes to mind.

 

Thanks for the recommendation, Sirius. Do those varieties definitely stop at 6ft tall?

 

Someone I know planted bamboo in enormous 60cm pots and then sunk the pots into the ground to control the invasive roots.


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To be completely honest I have grown to hate bamboo, so I can't see myself planting any more.

I thought about planting a few laurel bushes, but it takes too long to grow and thicken out. What about something like a wygelia -- is that evergreen, fast growing?

 

Weigela is not a hedging shrub or evergreen. Laurel is fast growing but I think Griselinia would be your best choice, it grows approximately 18 inches a year, is evergreen and light green in colour so won't give your garden a dark appearance.

 

Hi Sheal, thanks for the suggestion. Griselinia sounds nice with flowers and berries, plus it's evergreen, with light coloured leaves, as you point out. Having looked it up, the only problem I foresee is that it gets to 4-8m tall, so it would need pruning a lot to keep it down. I suppose that's the price you have to pay to get cover quickly.

 

When Griselinia gets to the height you want it then it can be maintained like any other hedge, it would probably only need trimming two may be three times a year like any other hedging plant. On one boundary I have Escallonia on the other Hebe, the Escallonia is trimmed twice a year the Hebe once (both evergreen), but they are slower growing than Griselinia. There isn't much that grows as fast as Leylandii but even that doesn't need trimming more than twice a year.

It's all really down to how much patience you have and whether you're willing to wait, plants will grow in their own time as we all know.

 

Fargesia rufa is well behaved.
My 10 year old specimen is about fence high.