There are two basic types of bamboo, runners and clumpers. If you make sure to get the clumpers, they are fairly easy to maintain and control, it is the runners that can escape and wreak havoc. If you decide to go with bamboo, just tell whomever you're purchasing from that you want a Clumping Bamboo and they can make sure you get the right kind. If they look at you funny, find another merchant.

Splats,

I know its not close to you but the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens in Gainesville have a huge collection of both clumping and running varities. They also sell the bamboo to the public. Here's a link to their website: Clumping Bamboo

Good luck and have fun creating your paradise.

Rhonda

I hesitate on any bamboo, just personal preference. i have watched a clumping variety for 24 years through hurricanes, lightning storms, drought and flood. It's just there but the house sold and the new owners hate it.

I think they have poisoned it as now it's very thin and getting nude. It will be a project getting it ground down. It's a messy look (that's okay if it's what you want) and can house critters, especially if you are on water.

What are you envisioning? Are your neighbors bad? Ugly view?

How much maintenance are you willing to commit? things can grow big and fast here.

I have a Eugenia hedge for privacy. It's been fine. No pests. I trim it 4 times a year. I can get to both sides. I like podocarpus,too. Calusia is very popular right now, easy, no pests, light trimming.

Also, maybe you need to trim all the trees up for more light (and then you get more planting options) and so the wind gets through the trees and doesn't become a sail during a storm.

Drive around and get ideas. Take pictures. Find a reputable garden center and ask questions. Get some estimates from landscape companies for the big jobs. Ask any neighbors who have pretty yards if they would recommend them.

I would have someone clean up the debris, shape trees, clean palms and then you can see what you have to work with.

Oh, and be careful of the sharks that live on the land.

Good luck and have fun!

Primarily just for privacy. And, yes, I think my first task is going to be to get a landscaper to "clean out" the crud and then develop a plan. But right now we have this opening right into the neigbors yard we want to get started on. I will look into several of your alls ideas.

If you want to see Bamboo nearby "Tropical Bamboo" nursery is in Loxahatchee and is one of the best collection of clumpers in the southeast.

In shade though I'd go with something other than bamboo as it won't fill in nicely. Many of the palms in the genera Chameadorea or Dypsis would work for screens. Ginger or philodendrons also work well in the shade in your area.

Splats, congrats on your "old-Florida" place. They are becoming rare. One note of caution: While I wholeheartedly agree that your new property could use some pruning of plants and who knows, maybe a removal or two, be careful of who you hire to do this work. Try to find someone with ISA (International Society of Arboriculture) or similarly qualified people. If you just hire the mow and blow guys, you will not get good, careful work and you WILL lose good plants, or have them mishandled. And I'm stepping out on thin ice right now when I say this, but I think....good, ISA-certified and similar folk might be a bit harder to find there (FL) than in many areas of the country. I don't live down there but just in my visits, I've seen, for example, very poor pruning work done to trees near the property I typically stay at when in Fort Myers. Just saying.....and the very first thing any new property owner anywhere in the country should do is get acquainted with just exactly what they've got growing. It sounds like you're inspired and that's a very good sign. If you've got County Extension agents at your disposal, so much the better. Those guys are dropping like flies with all the budget cutting going on all over the country, but if your county still finances these positions, they are typicially a wealth of knowledge.

+oM

Tom is giving some very good advice - & esp. about checking out your county extension agency...

FL County Extension local offices

& here's link to 1 of my fave sites for researching FL plants...

http://www.floridata.com/

Thanks Carol! I love that floridata site. And just from personal experience, Stephen Brown-Extension Agent for Lee Cty. is a great resource. Had the great pleasure of doing a ride-along with him a couple years back. Great guy and has made a huge number of youtube videos as well!

+oM

Licensed and Certified Arborists aren't hard to find, it's just that there are so many backyard 'hicks' with chainsaws that it seems the ISA guys are rare. Not only do the backyard guys cause more harm than help, but they will often give out bad advice in the interest of future jobs for themselves. I tried warning a store manager that the people she had hired to trim her Washingtonias were doing it incorrectly, but they were "professionsals with 20 yrs of experience". Now about a third of that store's Washingtonias are dead and need to come down. And who was one of the first people to bid for the job? You guessed it, the "professionals". I'm sure many other Florida Gardeners here have similar horror stories of dealing with 'cheap labor".

Well, I will be back at the new home the end of the month. I think I am going to contact the County Extension Office for some advice and see if I can find a "good" nursery in the West Palm area. I have a dozen or so kind of trees/plants in the yard, to include a couple of huge Banyan trees. It is all quit overwhelming for a guy that comes from a place of sand and cactus :}

Excellent. I'd guess there's some very interesting plants in that yard. And even when something is interfering with some intended usage, judicious pruning-as opposed to complete removal-can often and rather easily get you where you want to go. Also, as you work into this, please do not be averse to sharing here, and asking new questions.

+oM