Bamboo Fast Growing Privacy Screen

Are you a contractor or landscaper looking for a privacy screen to use on a project? Do you want something fast growing? Then there is no reason to look any further than clumping bamboo from Palmco.

What is Clumping Bamboo?

Bamboo is really a grass, not a tree, and there are two main types – the clumping variety (sympodial or pachymorph) and the running variety (monopodial or leptomorph).

Clumping bamboo is NOT invasive.The pachymorph rhizome system features short, thick roots that grow in a close circular clump, expanding very slowly by only a few inches per year. Unlike more aggressive running bamboos, it doesn’t expand horizontally beyond its assigned space.

If you’ve hesitated about using bamboo in your client’s landscape for fear that it will run rampant and be impossible to control, consider non-invasive clumping bamboo varieties. Clumping bamboo is easy to control and maintain, grows well in USDA Zones 8 to 10, and is ideal for use as privacy screens, hedges, living fences, windbreaks, and to stabilize soil on slopes.

About Palmco

Palmco serves the contiguous U.S. from our 600-acre farm in Bokeelia on Pine Island, Florida. We provide FF-grade palms, top-quality clumping bamboos, and spectacular ornamental plants, such as the Mast Tree, to landscape contractors, architects and developers who want to beautify residential estates, resorts, golf courses, commercial properties and more.

Fast Growing Clumping Bamboos

Oldhamii Bamboo (Bambusa oldhamii)

Often called Giant Timber Bamboo, Oldhamii Bamboo is not a giant or a timber bamboo but can grow to 55 to 60 feet tall with large 4- to 5-inch diameter culms. When grown in a shady environment, new culms are a darker green with silver powdery hue. In sunny conditions, they will have an orange hue. One of the straightest growing bamboo species, it has a fairly open growth pattern with relatively short branches. It makes a stunning hedge, screen or wind barrier. It can handle frost to 24°F and short wet and dry spells and the large canes makes lovely bamboo sounds when swaying in the wind.

Seabreeze Bamboo (Bambusa malingensis)

This variety is a Palmco customer favorite. Originating in Southern China, Seabreeze Bamboo is a tough, bushy and very fast-growing variety that can reach heights up to 35 to 40 feet. It is a beautiful upright grower with many tightly spaced canes that feature a distinctive bluish-white tint in each section. Drought-tolerant, salt-tolerant, and cold-hardy down to 20°F, it’s an excellent performer in Zones 9A and up. When mature, Seabreeze forms a graceful umbrella-shaped arch and is ideal for hedges, windbreaks and privacy screens. The canes make lovely bamboo sounds when the wind blows.

It is not hard to find plants that will work well for privacy screening, but it is hard to find plants that do so while growing as quickly and being as easy to maintain as clumping bamboo. Fast growing plants are not always this easy to work with. If you are interested in clumping bamboo, we invite you to contact Palmco from Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm, at (239) 283-1329.