Laurel or Bamboo for privacy

serco

Hi All

First time poster here.

At the back of our garden there is fence Circa 6 foot high with a two storey house at the back of the site behind us. We could like to plant some variety of hedge/tree to give us privacy. 8 foot would give us complete privacy and a landscaper friend has suggested bamboo or laurel (large).

I haven't seen bamboo close up but reading a little online suggests they can be hard to control; no problem maintaining them but don't want something spreading all over the garden either.

The laurels I can get are already 6 foot high. How long would these take to reach 8 foot and would you go with these over bamboo?

Our house is a bungalow and south facing so whatever we get will get sun for a lot of the day.

thanks for your help.

shaydy

I have the same dilema and I'm leaning towards bamboo.

I had laurel in the front garden, its a strong tough hedge. When I moved into the house I had to take a chainsaw to it to reduce the height and width!

I've since moved and having done the same research as yourself (complete garden novice) I was worried about putting the bamboo down incorrectly. There's a few youtube clips that give some tips. I've seen it in another backgarden and it really looked great.

Any advice from any more experienced gardeners here would be appreciated.

renandstimpy

You could get long planters and place them along where you want fence and plant bamboo in them this would isolate bamboo from rest of garden ... otherwise all you have to do is form a barrier along edge of bamboo where you don't want it to pass (in ground).. you can buy metal barriers as far as I know .. plenty vids on you tube (I'm presuming ) if you check .

macraignil

I have seen bamboo in gardens that was not controlled properly and had shoots popping up in some strange places. The spread of bamboo underground has put me off using it myself.

Laurel makes a good hedge choice. You should trim the leading tips of plants to encourage the hedge to fill out with smaller branches. I would estimate they put on about a foot (30cm)in height each year but this will depend on your growing conditions and how much you trim the plants back.

Day Lewin

Why not consider some traditional choices like Griselinia, or Privet? Beech?

Red Hare

You can get types of Bamboo that are clump forming rather than running, these clump forming ones are easy to contol as they form clumps rather than spread.
Phyllostachys is a clump forming one - it tends to be more expensive than the running ones.

Calahonda52

I have both Laurel and Bamboo for privacy

We are slowly replacing the bamboo with laurel, much better and easier to deal with

Sonnenblumen

serco wrote: »

Hi All

First time poster here.

At the back of our garden there is fence Circa 6 foot high with a two storey house at the back of the site behind us. We could like to plant some variety of hedge/tree to give us privacy. 8 foot would give us complete privacy and a landscaper friend has suggested bamboo or laurel (large).

I haven't seen bamboo close up but reading a little online suggests they can be hard to control; no problem maintaining them but don't want something spreading all over the garden either.

The laurels I can get are already 6 foot high. How long would these take to reach 8 foot and would you go with these over bamboo?

Our house is a bungalow and south facing so whatever we get will get sun for a lot of the day.

thanks for your help.

Clumping bamboo can be grown to be a very space efficient and effective screen but some precautions are necessary. I would suggest that such plants are easier to maintain and less demanding than other alternatives especially laurels. In urban gardens planting bamboos in restricted environments which limit the risk of root spread (surface spreading rhizomes) is the best solution, eg constructed raised planter beds, subterranean troughs etc.