Help pick out my first bamboo for backyard w/ pic v. Bambusa

[senormatt]

I appreciate the help and am excited to join the community. I'm a newbie and am excited like I'm sure all of you were when getting your first plant.

Here's the space in question. They'll be planted against the fence to double as a privacy screen.



I'm going to transplant the two outer plants in the pic elsewhere and the two in the middle will stay. I'd like to plant two (or more) bamboo on each side against the fence. On the right side I need to stay below the red line so I don't block my neighbors windows/sunlight. On the left side I can go as high as I'd like, but I'm worried it might look funny or out of sync to have different heights along the fence.

For the right side I'm looking at Bambusa 'Richard Waldron' or Textilis 'Dwarf'. I'm concerned the Dwarf may get too tall down the road - should I stay with the 'Richard Waldron'?

For the left side I'm not sure if I should plant the same thing I plant on the right side for a nice unified look, or go with Textilis 'Gracilis'.

I have a few options and would greatly appreciate your input on which you recommend.

[marcat]

R.W. on the right and Gracilis on the left. I am asuming your neibours wall is south facing and you don't want to block the winter sun. If its the north plant a taller Textilis as the trees will block their veiw in the summer anyway.
MarCat

[senormatt]

Thanks for the response! I didn't want to block her 2nd story windows completely b/c they face downtown Austin and I think she has a view.. But you have a point with the trees and they also have a 3rd floor of windows and a balcony, so I suppose a Dwarf Textilis would be fine since it wouldn't block her 3rd floor. Do y'all think two Dwarf Textilis clumps and a R.W. would have enough space together on the right side? (remember the 2nd plant from the right in the pic would be staying put).

Maybe...

Left - two Gracilis

Right - Dwarf Textilis, another Dwarf Textilis, and a R.W.

[mantis]

Whatever you decide to use, I'd keep the B. sp. 'Richard Waldron's to a minimum. They definitely don't have the cold hardiness that the B. textilis varieties have. B.sp.'RW' seems to defoliate around 21°F whereas B.t.Gracilis and B.t.Dwarf have no damage down to around 15°.

[Bamboo Outlaw]

All the Bambusa sp. Richard Waldron will loose all their leaves as a minimum from the damage here so far.

[marcat]

Actually my RW had minumal burn compared to the rest. I believe it was due to its very short hight. Less in the drying wind than the taller plants. It is only about 4 feet after last years hard freeze. Oh of the taller stuff B. Chungii came thru better with only minimum burn.
MarCat

[Bamboo Outlaw]

Marcat-the farm was hit very hard again due to being in the open. The homestead looks much better.

Mantis-I hope the trees around your farm help.

I have not looked at the Richard Waldron here yet.

[marcat]

I went out and looked at my RW this morning , hard to see it thru the layer of ice.
MarCat

[senormatt]

I think it's down between textillis dwarf and gracilis. I'm leaning towards doing all textilis dwarf with one gracilis in the left corner just to have one.

Sometimes I just want to plant gracilis all the way across...but some of the pics I've seen of it make it seem like it can even get tall enough to obstruct the yellow house's 3rd story balcony and I'd like to be considerate of their space/view.

If all the dwarfs looked like the one below my mind would be made up. Is this how y'alls textilis dwarfs look?

[Alan_L]

I can't contribute anything to this discussion, but I commend you on your consideration for your neighbors.

[dudley]

The RW does not do well here.
Have one that gets about 4hours of direct sun in the summer and almost none in the winter.
It shoots well but always looks ratty and about half the culms die every year. It is not upsizing significantly.
The other is under the oak canopy and gets dappled light all day. It always looks healthy but
Looks more like a shrub than a bamboo. Only two feet tall. No upsize at all.