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Bamboo is one of the plants you might choose to purchase that will create privacy for you. Let’s talk about how and where you can get some bamboo and how to install it safely.
Let’s say you’ve bought a house, and you have a nice backyard. You have a fence set up so your kids can play back there, and your dog can run around. Maybe you also have a back deck, where the adults in the family like to sit in the evening and have a couple of beverages.
This sounds like domestic bliss, but there’s a problem. There’s not much foliage or vegetation at the back of the yard by the fence, so your neighbours behind you can see you very clearly, and you can see them just as well.
You might have no problem with your neighbours, but that does not necessarily mean you want them watching you while you’re spending time in the backyard and vice versa. You may decide you want to look into options that will afford you some privacy while you’re back there.
Bamboo is an Invasive Species
It pays to understand certain things. For instance, if you live in Pennsylvania, car accident injury lawsuits have a two-year limitations statute. If you don’t know that, you might neglect to file a case during the appropriate time.
Similarly, as a gardener, you should know all the relevant facts about the plants you’re installing in your garden or on your property. You should know all about bamboo if you choose to plant it for privacy purposes.
Bamboo is an aggressive, invasive species, and you should keep that in mind if you select it as a barrier between yourself and the neighbours. Buying planters and putting the bamboo in those is usually the solution.
If you don’t buy those planters, and you plant the bamboo along the fence dividing your backyard and the neighbours’ property, it will take over the yard. You need to keep it in those planters so it will not spread any further than you want. In addition to the bamboo and planters, you’ll also want to get some special soil that will properly nurture it.
Where Can You Get It, and How Much Does It Cost?
How much bamboo will cost and where you can get it depends on where you are in the country. In Florida, you can often find bamboo in the wild. You sometimes encounter it growing freely in vacant lots.
In other regions, though, it’s a rarity that you’ll find it for sale in nurseries. If you live in those states, you’ll have to buy it and have a company ship it to you.
There are nurseries in Alabama, for example, where you can buy half-grown bamboo plants. Paying the company to ship a dozen plants from the South to a Northern state will cost you between $2-3K.
You might expect to pay a little less than $5K for 18 bamboo plants, nine planters to put them in, plus the special soil in which they can grow. That many plants, and the planters to go with them, can cover about 50-60 feet of yard space along a fence line.
Is This a Smart Idea?
Some people might worry that bamboo will not grow in their state. Maybe you live in upstate New York, for instance, close to Lake Ontario. The temperatures in the winter will sometimes reach the teens or single digits.
Surprisingly, there are bamboo varieties that can live in these cold climates. During the winter months, they will essentially hibernate. During the spring, summer, and fall, they will continue growing until they reach their adult height.
This can potentially work very well for you if privacy concerns you. Mature bamboo plants can reach 20-25 feet tall. They will also grow out as well as up, so there should be a lovely green wall separating you from the neighbours.
Bamboo is also nice to look at and makes a musical noise as it sways back and forth in the wind. You can be a highly skilled gardener or a total amateur, but if you make sure to water the bamboo when you first plant it, it should probably survive. Within 2-3 years, it should be close to its adult height.
This is an excellent example of gardening fulfilling multiple purposes. If no one else in the area has bamboo, this is also a great selling point to add to your home.
