Growing short bamboo or tall grasses

Posts

• clematisdorset Posts: 1,348

  6 January

  I realise that technically bamboo is a grass by the way! ☺️

  Sorry to witness the demise of the forum. 😥😥😥😡😡😡I am Spartacus 

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• Rubytoo Posts: 1,630

  6 January

  What kind of height are you aiming for?
  
  And how dense would you like it to be?
  
  I can't think of any evergreen grasses, though there may be some?
  I mean any with a tall enough main base grassy leafy bit, not the seed/flower head height.
  As most grasses, for example, Miscanthus, have tall cultivars but are cut back at some point, so would not be a permanent or evergreen screen.
  
  Bamboo maybe more so as they make a denser stem/clump.
  (I always wanted to try some as a screen here but even afraid to grow the clumping types as the area I want to screen is not large and near a retaining wall).
  
  

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• KT53 Posts: 9,016

  6 January

  @Rubytoo the RHS website lists 22 evergreen grasses.
  

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• GardenerSuze Posts: 5,692

  6 January edited 6 January

  @clematisdorset I grew ten different grasses in my old garden plus one Bamboo, Fargesia Jiuzhaigou 1.
  When I moved the surveyor pointed out that there was bamboo in the garden. It was a clumper and once a year a sharpe spade was used to sever the roots and stop any spread.
  The best grass for a hedge is Calamagrostis Karl Foerster. I also have C Overdam a little shorter and variegated. My latest is C Eldorado. These grasses can cope with the winter winds once established.They also make a great specimen plant and look good grouped or planted at intervals along a long border.
  A cut back to ground level in Feb which is the plants low point in the year and off you go again. To keep an upright orderly shape lift every few years and divide into large pieces in spring as they start to grow, never when dormant. If you are in no hurry just buy one or two and lift and split to save money.
  It just depends on the height you want but as grasses create a 'veil' and are fairly shallow rooted you don't feel hemmed in if that is what you want.
  
  Yes there are evergreen grasses such as some of the short grey forms too wet in my garden for these. It is the tall dead stems of grasses catching the light in the winter months that make them so beautiful. Although not all including the Molinias will cope with a storm in Autumn.
  
  Msicanthus are also beautiful and come in different height there flowers also cope with the winter months. However the large ones like bamboo are spade breakers.
  
  

  I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.

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• ViewAhead Posts: 866

  6 January

  I have bamboo Fargesia Nitada.  It is evergreen (though more sparsely foliated in winter waiting for fresh new leaves to pop through).  In a pot, you can keep it fairly small, though it needs plenty of water and an annual feed.  In the ground, it forms a clump about 2m high and a little less wide.  It's OK in pretty dense shade, but does not like afternoon sun.  A lovely plant, IMV. 🙂

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• Pete.8 Posts: 11,340

  6 January

  I also have a row of Calamagrostis Karl Foerster and they look good throughout the year except for a few weeks just after they're cut down to the ground in Spring.
  
  Even now, when they're dead and papery they look good and they stand bolt-upright almost regardless of what the weather throws at them.
  They were flattened by heavy snow in Dec 2022, but soon after they were upright again - kudos!

  
  Billericay - Essex
  
  Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
  Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

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• thevictorian Posts: 1,279

  6 January

  We have fargesia rufa and it's a nice clumping bamboo that is exceptionally well behaved. It can be easily managed to a height if need be but it looks far better in semi shade. I have moved it several times and its shallow rooted and easy to move. I'd happily plant it again but would probably go for one of the other fargesia bamboos as there are now some nicer ones available.

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• thevictorian Posts: 1,279

  6 January

  I should add that I grow ornamental grasses as well but most of the larger ones enjoy the sun and an exposed position whereas most bamboos look better with a little shelter and shade. I always think of bamboos as forest grasses.

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• Plantminded Posts: 3,580

  6 January

  What sort of height and spread are you looking for @clematisdorset?  I grow many grasses and bamboos as they like the soil here.

  Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.
  
  
  

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• Rubytoo Posts: 1,630

  6 January

  KT53 said:

  @Rubytoo the RHS website lists 22 evergreen grasses.
  

  Yes sorry if I wrote it badly. The grass clumps would be evergreen but surely the long grass stalks and heads won't be? So they won't screen permanently is what I meant.
  
  They will need cutting back?
  So from a height and "screen" point of view they will not be a permanent screen at that height.
  The clumps maybe evergreen but the stalks won't be
  
  

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