I’m a gardener, and this single plant will give you backyard privacy in just one season
I’m a gardener, and this single plant will give you backyard privacy in just one season
Publish Date: 2026-04-20 04:00:00
Source Domain: www.tomsguide.com
It’s easy to get privacy once you are inside your home, but it can be a challenge in your backyard, especially if you’ve got a small garden or your neighbors are sometimes a bit too friendly.
When you’re enjoying a morning brew or quietly reading a book, you don’t always want to be disturbed by someone’s smiley face popping over your fence.
While fencing adds height, serves as a boundary to define your yard, and provides a level of privacy, it might not achieve the desired aesthetic. Even if you decide to add a splash of color to your fence with paint, it won’t provide the natural environment that planting will achieve.
I’m not suggesting that you screen your whole yard with tall plants, but you may have certain areas that you’d prefer to keep more private, such as a patio or seating area. What’s more, I’ve used this particular screening plant to block my neighbors’ view down the side of my house, and it works a treat to add privacy without being offensive.
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The benefits of bamboo as a screening plant
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I’m talking about bamboo. “Bamboo can be an effective screening plant because it is fast-growing, often evergreen, and capable of forming a dense vertical barrier relatively quickly. In the right context, it can provide privacy, wind protection, and even useful yields — canes, edible shoots — without taking up too much space,” explains Elizabeth Waddington, garden expert and writer at First Tunnels.
Maksim Kazakou, resident botany expert at Plantum, adds that bamboo offers year-round ornamental appeal, is low maintenance, can grow in very tight spaces, and adapts well to containers.
Types of bamboo
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“Lots of people who think of bamboo don’t realize there are two main kinds, those that clump and those that run,” says Tammy Sons, founder and CEO at TN Nursery.
“Bamboo that clumps stays in one spot,…
