Despite the treat of running away: BAMBOO! Nothing else will do a job quite like it.

True, John -- so true.

...BUT... Bamboo is expensive. I can't really afford more than one plant, which means that I'll have to wait for at least a few runners to establish new clumps which I will have to dig up (a pretty difficult chore I'm told), and plant in other places along the fence -- with the added chores of installing barriers, and doing semi-annual root-pruning of all the clumps.

So there's that -- a fast-growing screen in ONE spot, but not really a full-length screen for at least a few years.

On the other hand, I have a friend who planted Sequoiadendron (not Metasequoia -- I had the genus wrong) giganteum five years ago, and it's already very tall and lush. They do grow fast, thick, and wide... and they're fairly cheap. I can buy starts for $8 each, and five trees will probably be all I'll need to cover the entire 100 feet or so of screening.

I can interplant them with Laurel, and maybe a single clump of 'Henon'... and I can train and prune them so they don't totally overwhelm my yard.

And yes, their trunks do become 10' wide with age... a few hundred years or so... but with global warming accelerating at its current pace, we probably won't have much more than another 30 years to enjoy our gardens, anyway.

In 30 years' time, the trees' trunks will only be six feet or so wide, which means I can plant them three feet from the fence -- or closer, and let them knock it down!

Another thread here -- I think it's called, "To stay or not to stay", by Robyn in TX -- discusses what to do about trees that are mature, but aren't really close to the gardener's heart. I realized as I read the latest contributions to the thread, that I don't really care that much for the dwarf apple tree except for the insufficient screening it contributes in summer... and although I've always wanted a peach tree, the one that's here isn't bearing well, and the fruit hasn't ripened properly in either of the last two summers.

That leaves only the two Queen Anne cherries to worry about: one is so tall that I'll need a cherry-picker to harvest its bounty, and the other one is already leaning well into the yard, a slim trunk that sprouted from the stump of the tree someone cut down long ago. (I never would have!)

My point being, I think I'll enjoy whatever screening plants I grow there better than I'm currently enjoying the fruit trees.

So rather than plant a monoculture screen, I think I might mix up the bamboo, Giant Sequoias, and Laurel, with a few Italian cypresses for variety. I'll try to plant things that won't immediately overwhelm the cherries -- but dwarf apple tree, look out!

Thanks for your advice, John. It IS comforting to hear someone say, "You know, there are times when it's perfectly okay to plant a huge, invasive, running bamboo!"

Love,

Claudia

Claudia,
When a developer plopped big, ugly McMansions on the previously-wooded hill behind me, the first thing I thought was, "You know, there are times when it's perfectly okay to plant a huge, invasive, running bamboo!"

And that's what I did last year.

Bless your heart, Cady!

Do you have a digital camera? Can you post pictures of the hideous McView as it looks now, with the promising bamboo in front of it?

And I'll see if I can post the pictures I just took of the hideous view on the north side of my own work-in-progress. With all the trees winter-bare, it's really, really awful...

Love and thanks,

Claudia

I have shots of the McMs, but not the right angle to show the new 'boo growing in front of it. I'll post the "Before" shots today, though, and will get pictures of the 'boo when it shoots later this spring. Now that it's in its second year, there should be some fresh growth. It will be another year before it really goes wacky.

You can buy field grown LARGE bamboo specimens from a number of growers, so that you're starting with big, full plants. I opted for smaller, cheaper, younger ones, but I don't mind waiting because the trees in back screen out the development from May to November.

Claudia,
Here is a photo of the McMansion development that was plopped onto the formerly wooded hill behind me. 10 acres of land blasted, chainsawed and converted into subdivisions of butt-ugly boxes. My and my neighbors' yards are like the inside of a fishbowl, with our new abuttors over our heads. Their decks overlook our yards.

Fortunately, from May through November the view is screened by the leaves on the deciduous trees. In this photo, it's winter so you can see what it's like without leaves.

Last year, I put some bamboo in a strategic place so that when I look out my sunroom window, the 'boo will screen the view of the McMansions during the seasons when there are no leaves on the trees. This year, I'm planting bamboo along the boundary at the foot of the hill, using a species that will soften the view more.

Angle and perspective are everything when you're dealing with this kind of vertical view, but if your problem plane of vision is horizontal, you have more options such as progressively taller "layers" of shrubs and trees - low plants in your foreground, tall in the background.

P.S.
Can you see the turkey "mooning" my hilltop abuttors? Of course, the people there had to get used to living next over a yard full of poultry, but we were there first. ;)

Here is a link that might be useful: Fishbowl