Hegdes are prettier to look at, especially when it is bamboo!

I believe there is a thorny bamboo too, but I don't remember which kind it is.

Mmmmmmmmm... Steak!

Here is a link that might be useful: Mmmmmmmm... Steak!

Yellow Groove.. my neighbor's friend had some and he says the only thing that could squeeze through were small squirrels and birds.

Squirrels and birds can be used as Agents of Evil. Just ask anyone who has had squirrels in the attic or birds breaching security when they fall down the chimney.

Native bamboo, Arundinaria gigantea - canebrake- and A. gigantea "tecta" - switchcane- are dense growing. Farmers used machetes to hack through stands that were hundreds of acres in scope.

Or, use spikey Rosa rugosa, barberry and other nasty prickers. Better than fencing.

Bambusa Sinospinosa is a thorny bamboo however it is a clumping species. If you had a few of them you could block off certain relatively small routes into your yard.

According Greogrek's website it grows to 70 feet.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gregorek - John - Bamboo

Actually, if you are in zone 5 it would not have a chance of developing to any level to provide protection.

I have six different varieties of bamboo with thorns. The largest, so far, is Sinospinosa. Everytime I mow near this plant, I get cut, yes cut, not scratched. I mowed just before dark tonight, and it got me again. Even armadillos don't go near this one. Oh, and just for the record, I still have a push mower.

Kt

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I won't be growing a thorny clumping tropical bamboo.(Unless.....global warming is coming faster than we think....) Barberry is a pretty good hedge plant, but some what short. Multiflora rose is one of the best hedge/living fences growing up to 10 ft tall, but RRD is killing all of them around here now.

Though not a bamboo, Trifoliate orange can be pruned to a big bush and is very hardy. It is also absolutely impassable for humans. Some people place it underneath their children's bedroom window.

Here is a link that might be useful: Poncirus trifoliata

For zone 5, Bissetii will form an impenetrable shrub and will be more likely to stay green year-round than any other species you could get.

The shrub effect intensifies if you top the culms, as the plant will produce more leaves on the lower branches to compensate for the topping.

If you want to go the slower route in terms of topping, and have a very different look with the bamboo you could always peel the culm leaves off when each internode has elongated as much as you want (this will take a LONG time to do !). This procedure can be used to 'bonsai' bamboo culms as an internode will stop elongating once it's culm leaf has been removed.

Yeah, I was going to buy Trifoliate orange this year, but you know how it goes when what you want exceeds what your budget is. Might buy it next year and see if it can survive our cold winters. I'll try some of the bamboo as hedges once they start spreading: being that this is the first year I have the phyllostachys in the ground. I know, I know, I should've started growing bamboo as a toddler. May you have pity on this fool.

My bamboo hedge is 2 years old and neighbor is now complaining about it, referring to it as a "mess." Mind you, this is someone who complains about everything - he complained so much about our pine tree branches in his "airspace" that I got PO'd and had hubby cut it down. I wanted a good privacy fence but vinyl fencing for my stretch of property would be cost prohibitive. So, my husband obtained bamboo from my father-in-law's property and its growing like gangbusters. I'm SO HAPPY and there's not a darn thing he can do about it. He was yelling at me the other night, refused to let me get a word in edgewise so I walked away from him. He was screaming, "I wanna talk to your husband!" I'm still laughing because I've finally beat this nutty peeping Thom at his own game. I mean, He finally cannot look out the window he installed in the BACK of his garage that faces our property - just to snoop. He did the same with a shed he has- Now both are blocked by bamboo. :)

Yep,

Bamboos are great ways to get rid of pesky nosey neighbors...as are leyland cypresses.....heh.heh.heh. I had my share of people looking over my fence years ago.Now, I am IN THE JUNGLE!!!!

lkz5ia - I have a couple of the Trifoliata, one I've had for 2 winters and the other is new. At -19F 2 years ago it lost about 10 inches of the top. Last winter at -12F it did not sustain any damage but I had moved it to a more protected spot. I got them from a friend who has a good sized one that they make 'key lime' pie with. They look like pretty slow growers though so it may be many years before they'd make a hedge. My buddy has lots of them and there is no way I'd try to walk through his hedge row of them.

If you are really mean, and would like to give the impression that you are really mean, try pyrancantha!

Semiarundinaria fastuosa will do a perfect job and is pretty. Bisetti is good. Aureosulcata takes forever and needs perfect conditions to really do a decent job - and even then can be got through.
hardy orange seeds are easiest and cheapest way to go- Poncirus trifoliata - very fast growing and totally secure. Likewise osage orange Maclura pomifera - if planted properly can keep rabbits out!

Peterknop - Fastuosa won't work in zone 5, it's not hardy enough, very slow, and very short. I'm surprised that you find Aureosulcata slow, here it is a fine screening & hedge bamboo outdone only by Bissetii & Rubromarginata, it does about as well but takes an extra year or two.

Have you known the Poncirus to grow quickly? Mine seems pretty slow and I wonder if it is an environmental issue? It looks healthy and is growing but only a few inches each of the past 2 years.

Again though, in zone 5 it's Bissetii if you want a bamboo screen or hedge.

Would one such as dwarf bisset work just as good? From what I've read its as hardy as bisset but like a mini-me. I just bought a pyrancatha from oikos. It suppose to be a cold-hardy genotype that can be tried in zone 5. Most places say the scarlet firethorn is hardy to 6 and 7.

Dwarf Bissetii would work as well but it usually costs more, so I'd go with the straight Bissetii if it is less expensive.

hoosier52: I'm surprised that you say that Semiarundinaria fastuosa won't work in zone 5. I was just over at that office park near me yesterday trying to identify their larger bamboos and I am certain that one of the types was Semiarundinaria fastuosa. The new shoots were well over my head, maybe 10 feet or so. There was some older growth that was almost 20 feet. Of course it probably didn't start out small when it was planted there, but it seemed to have survived the winter okay.

The other kind they have there is Phyllostachys Aureosulcata 'specatbilis'. It was also very tall, cominng to the top of the two-story building. So I agree with you that this seems to work in zone 5 just fine.

Bruce, a friend of mine has been shipping semi-loads of LARGE bamboo divisions to an industrial park in KC - is this the place that you are talking about? I know for sure that they bought LOTS of Nuda that the architect specd' at a minimum of 1 1/2 inch diameter by 20 feet. I am not sure about the Fastuosa but he did have some massive divisions of it that went to Manhattan, so maybe the KC project got some as well.

Keep in mind that a large division that was dug in Feb or March and planted in zone 5 will produce big shoots the spring in which it was dug as the energy for those shoots was produced during the time when the division was part of a large grove, sharing the nutrients etc. After it most likely topkills it's first winter, the following spring the shoots will be about 1/3 the size of the prior year. The KC project to which I refer had nearly total topkill the first winter and all of the large divisions were mostly lost. They ordered more the second spring and those may be what you saw. If we are talking about the same place, the bamboo grew in SC Tennessee and mature divisions were planted. This is the same place/size that much of my collection came from - except for that huge Fastuosa which was a legitimate 2 inches by 30 feet, it grew somewhere much farther south of TN.

All of the Semiarundinarias are staying small here, but I've only had them 2-4 years. 3 year old Fastuosa is not yet 4 feet tall and produced about 6 culms this year. 2 year old Fastuosa Viridis is a tad over 6 feet tall but is producing many more culms and appears hardier than straight Fastuosa , as is S. Okuboi. 1 year old S Makinoi is about 2 feet tall. 4 year old SY Kimmeii is about 4 feet tall but is one of the most aggressive species that I have. I have my hands full with that one and I'm using it for erosion control.

It is based on these observations that I do not think that Fastuosa would make a decent screening bamboo in zone 5, which is even colder than here.

The place to which I am referring is the one your friend is supplying. I wasn't aware of the history but that is very useful information. I am hoping that what I have planted in my back yard gets that big some day so I drop by when I'm in the neighborhood to see how it is doing. When I saw the Fastuosa there the other day, I was impressed at how good it looked. I will let you know how it does this winter. I'm also going to hold off ordering some for myself for now. :)

My semiarundinaria fastuosa is shooting like crazy now.I purchased 6 field sized specimens about 4 years ago.Average height was 12 feet when planted.It received no topkill since planted and lost little leaves.Today I counted over 200 new culms which should top over 15 feet.It makes a dense screen which you can't see through.I have 2 8by8 groves which block out one of my pesky neighbors.Highly recommend this bamboo for my zone 6.

"4 year old SY Kimmeii is about 4 feet tall but is one of the most aggressive species that I have. I have my hands full with that one and I'm using it for erosion control." -hoosier52

There is one thing I like more than bamboo, bamboo gone wild.

This 4 year old planting of Semiarundinaria
yashadake 'Kimmei' that you speak of, Does it grow like a perennial and die back every winter or grow like a bamboo and the culms survive the winter? Sounds like another bamboo I will have to add to my collection if it can survive super cold winters.
I bought a bamboo this year called 'windbreak bamboo' Bashania fargesii. This bamboo is listed by many as one of the most aggressive spreaders. Not sure how it will survive my winters, but if nothing else, hopefully I will have a fast growing perennial.

Koniferkid, I am seeing no activity from my temple. the culm still has color(it isn't tan) but nothing at all. no leaves or anything. i'm wondering if its a goner. If it is then it is the only one that didn't make it thru the winter. I planted a bissetti next to it in anticipation that it IS a goner. I'm keeping my fingers crossed though.

Kurt

Konnifer, I'd like to see a picture of your Fastuosa, to see a healthy, prospering grove of it. Even 350 miles south of me in TN, their Fastuosa seems about 12-15 feet tops and it looks kind of tattered to me. I posted a query here last year asking about zone 6 Semiarundinarias and it seemed that no one was getting it to do much. My SF Viridis is becoming a mini-grove after 2 years but as I said it's 6 feet at the tallest, 4 feet or so on average, but very attractive juvenille looking dark-green leaves.

Yes, the Kimmeii has died back the past 4 winters. FoxD was here in late April before it started shooting and he saw it again last week so he can attest to it's vigor. I have dug around 30 divisions off of it through last year and I have more to dig this summer - some will be going to the ABS auction for sure. I have some pots of it,1 for 2 years and they look breat but are also about 4 feet max even without the dieback, so maybe it will size up over time. FredG I think got one last summer, so we can find out how it does in CA. In TN it is 15 feet and formed a very thick grove.

My Bash Farg. has done nothing but I think that the Voles really ravaged it the first couple of years, so it has been in a recovery mode - only a few small culms thus far and it has not spread beyond it's original bed but again, the dam*&^n Voles got it.

Hoosier-I really fertilize it heavy.Early spring bloodmeal and then every 2 weeks fish emulsion.There are some tattered leaves in winter but new leaves are in place by the end of May.It shoots very late and I was getting a little worried this year until a week ago.Last night we had a deluge of rain and I lost at least 30 new culms do to breakage.I think I need to lay off the fertilizer a little.The weight of the rain on the leaves of the older culms really weighed down the new shoots.I have a nice wind barrier of conifers all around my landscape so I guess it really helps the boo in the winter.I'll post some pictures as soon as I get a digital camera.[I still have my old Yashica 35mm from the 70's].

Koniferkid

We might need to start a camera fund for Koniferkid so we can see pix of his fine garden. I have one of those 35mm Yashica's too but haven't used it in years.

The differences in S. fastuosa performance sure make a strong argument for wind protection. I planted one this spring but now thinking I may need to use it as a houseplant.

Thuja:

I am probably the only one here without a cellphone too.I am not into modern technology.The only reason I have a computer is to get more info on all the plants and discussion.I was checking out digital cameras though, hmmm, digital camera or new rare bamboo. That's a tough decision.

Koniferkid

If your low on cash, always choose new rare bamboo over digital camera.

Koniferkid,
buy a rare bamboo and offer the first division to someone who gives you their old digital camera. 2 birds w/ 1 stone...

I decided to get a digital camera...I guess I have enough plants....yeah right.I just got another 30 japanese maples yesterday. The camera will have to wait....

LMAO. This sounds like a failed 12-step program.

Konifer, I'd trade ya my old digital camera for a maple, that way I'd get a new maple and would need to go out shopping for a new camera. :)

Thuja,

Sounds good to me. I'll throw in some fargesia robusta too.
Zone 4?-that's too cold for me....I hate being in zone 6.I'd be happy in zone8/9 and growing some of that big bamboo....

Koniferkid! HIbernating is fun. MOst people don't even know its winter in the north. When the leaves start changing color in the forests we move unto the bamboo groves and eat as much bamboo as we can stomach. Then we retire for the winter in the caves of our ancestors.