Screening in pots

robatwork

Amberuk1 wrote: »

I purchased 10L Golden bamboo from Homebase a few weeks ago that were already close to 8ft tall,(which would be even higher if they going in large pots) and these were the smallest size...they also have 18L which would give an immediate 12ft hedge you were looking for, I couldnt fit these in the car so went for the smallest ones( the 12ft ones are currently reduced to £30 which I thought was pretty good after seeing the £60-£70 prices quoted in my local garden centre)

good luck with your search...

p.s just wanted to confirm I "dont" work for Homebase, just nice to find a bargain fr a change!;)

Davesnave wrote: »

It's well-behaved but I killed most of ours and found it slow. Remainder is sulking.



Yellow one,( p. aurea, I think) is fine and still quite well-behaved.

I popped to my "local" homebase (they seem to have suffered from some heavy pruning too) and they are out of the black bamboo and there's not many left around the S of England. They did have plenty of the golden which would probably be the prudent choice. But I hate prudent and want the black now!

Could I get one small pot to spread into a trough?

Amberuk1

robatwork wrote: »

I popped to my "local" homebase (they seem to have suffered from some heavy pruning too) and they are out of the black bamboo and there's not many left around the S of England. They did have plenty of the golden which would probably be the prudent choice. But I hate prudent and want the black now!

Could I get one small pot to spread into a trough?

Hi,

I'm no expert but I think a mix of both would look really nice and give "interest"... I was told the "Golden" bamboo works better for screening, as grows quicker but I dont know if thats true. My local homebase had just a delivery of "Golden" bamboo in the 10L pots (£20) so purchased 3 of them about 2 weeks ago and all were between 7-8ft tall on planting, you just have to compare and make sure you pick the best ones from the batch!;)...dont think you can go wrong with 3, 7-8ft bamboo for £60 total for immediate screening!;) It's allowed me to cover 7ft area of fence and almost 8ft high...

I also picked up a 5yr old 10ft high mature Arrow bamboo off ebay...seller had grown in a large pot and it had atleast 40 canes....knocked him down in price to £30 and it almost covers the corner of patio by itself...only downside is getting it picked up and fitting in the car but might be worth a look there if no luck at homebase...I've saved alot of money in the past doing it that way....

good luck

MysteryMe

My garden is all hard landscaped and apart from a couple of very large viburnum everything is in pots. I have about 10 different varieties of bamboo mostly in 50cm strong black tubs and they are doing well. Clump forming like the Fargesia series do well. I have had them for about a year, and several have reached 2 metres. They do need regular watering at first to get established. I give them a feed of chicken manure pellets in the spring, other than that they are maintenance free. I place smaller pots in front of them to hide the black tubs.

I can recommend these people, they do mail order, although they might be more suitable if you are looking for more unusual varieties as I was. If you can wait they usually have a 20% off sale in the new year.

https://www.bigplantnursery.co.uk/plants/bamboos/

MysteryMe

Amberuk1 wrote: »

Hi,

I'm no expert but I think a mix of both would look really nice and give "interest"... I was told the "Golden" bamboo works better for screening, as grows quicker but I dont know if thats true. My local homebase had just a delivery of "Golden" bamboo in the 10L pots (£20) so purchased 3 of them about 2 weeks ago and all were between 7-8ft tall on planting, you just have to compare and make sure you pick the best ones from the batch!;)...dont think you can go wrong with 3, 7-8ft bamboo for £60 total for immediate screening!;) It's allowed me to cover 7ft area of fence and almost 8ft high...

I also picked up a 5yr old 10ft high mature Arrow bamboo off ebay...seller had grown in a large pot and it had atleast 40 canes....knocked him down in price to £30 and it almost covers the corner of patio by itself...only downside is getting it picked up and fitting in the car but might be worth a look there if no luck at homebase...I've saved alot of money in the past doing it that way....

good luck

Good shout re ebay, I've bought some really nice bamboo from there. My bargain was a beautiful well established Fargesia Jiuzhaigou red bamboo in a 15 litre pot for £20.

madjackslam

I've had a golden bamboo in a half barrel for seven years or so. I treat it very badly (no new compost in that time :sad:) but it withstands that mistreatment and still grows to 8 feet quite happily. You have to watch out for watering - windy weather in particular seems to dehydrate it - but it lets you know when it's stressed. I think a benefit would be that it doesn't "catch" the wind, but rather filters, so it doesn't move or fall over. Although it's not in a super-windy spot.

robatwork

Just to come back to this thread - I have seen the tree at the end of the garden below - I realise it's not a pot but I could possibly dig out enough concrete and subsoil to get a tree planted. The one at the end of this garden and next door seem to have grown up a nice height and spread right across giving great screening:



Any ideas what trees they are?

sheramber

Knock on the door and ask them.

Most people are only too willing to share their garden

robatwork

sheramber wrote: »

Knock on the door and ask them.

Most people are only too willing to share their garden

I just saw this randomly on Rightmove :cheesy:

andrewf75

robatwork wrote: »

I realise it's not a pot but I could possibly dig out enough concrete and subsoil to get a tree planted.

If there is any way you can plant in the ground – do it
Pots are always going to be restrictive.

Farway

robatwork wrote: »

Just to come back to this thread - I have seen the tree at the end of the garden below - I realise it's not a pot but I could possibly dig out enough concrete and subsoil to get a tree planted. The one at the end of this garden and next door seem to have grown up a nice height and spread right across giving great screening:



Any ideas what trees they are?

Not able to get a good look, but I guess Copper Beech.

It's a forest tree so anticipate longer term problems, especially when some of your neighbours thinks it's lovely & gets a tree preservation order on it;)