Bamboo growth/filling in gaps

[mommybear1]

Hi

We have been renovating our house for a while and are now looking at the garden. The previous owner had bamboo to give privacy which whilst I am not a big fan of I can see it does a good job. I've cut the bamboo back and down today as it was very overgrown. I've noticed now that there are gaps between some of the shoots which I'd like to fill out. I'd also like to encourage the bamboo to grow to give more coverage. I attach some pictures of the gaps and the side of the house where I would like to encourage the bamboo to grow. Does anyone know how I can do this? I don't have any experience of bamboo. Many thanks

First set of pictures show the gap which I would like to fill.

Second photo show where I would like to encourage the bamboo to grow along to the fence.

Bamboo is incredibly invasive so I would imagine it will fill that gap quite happily on it's own....however, it's invasive nature also means that it will seek out any cracks or weakness in a buildings foundation for example and could cause problems.

It's a nightmare to dig up but I would be tempted to dig it up and transfer into some long troughs and use that as screening. That way it's safely contained and not likely to cause damage to nearby property (is that your neighbour's building?)

I’d be very wary of encouraging more bamboo growth, todays bamboo is tomorrow’s Leylandi, or even worse Japanese Knotweed.
You need to know it is not an invasive type of bamboo, it can run riot, coming up in lawns and growing under fences to invade neighbouring gardens.

I put some in my last garden, it spreads everywhere. I had to dig it out, took ages. Why don’t you get rid of it and put in pyracantha it’s evergreen, has white flowers in spring that bees love and berries in winter the birds love. Birds nest in it because it is thorny, added bonus people are not going to try to climb over your fence!

Thank you for your quick replies.

@CompleteBarstool yes it is my neighbours property. It's a bit of an odd one really but our house was the first built in the road and the neighbour then modernised next door after their grandparents and then parents died. Neighbour is very invested in the property and keeping things as they were. Neighbour says the bamboo was there for as long as they can remember and is oddly protective over it I think it's to do with their privacy they were hovering over me today when I was cutting it back to make sure I didn't take too much off. It's the neighbour who is more bothered about the gap as you can see from the windows it exposes one of theirs. In the three years we have been here the bamboo hasn't grown anywhere other than where it currently is it's just grown taller and outwards towards our property with the leaves but not its roots not sure if I have explained that well but is basically just become bushier and fuller where it's established. It's doesn't look like it's in a container to me but it's definitely not on my neighbours side or spreading.

@Theteapotsbrokenspout that is a scary thought I'll have to see if I can identify the variety of it. As I mentioned above it's not grown anywhere from where it is established in 3 years other than taller and bushier!

@leckford thank you I do love orange pyracantha do you know how tall it grows? As mentioned above our neighbour likes the privacy and if I was to remove the bamboo I would need to put something in it's place that would need to grow as tall as the bamboo very quickly I can imagine our neighbour would be very unhappy if there wasn't immediate coverage.

Thanks for all the comments much appreciated.

Could you grow a mile-a-minute clematis over a trellis in the meantime while you wait for other plants to establish? You could start it from the gap and even grow it through the bamboo and gradually remove stems as the clematis and other plants establish. You would need to start the other plants to the side or in pots though.

Not all bamboos are spreading. Some are "clumping" and do not spread.

@peajotter great idea with the clementis that will work perfectly for the gap I think and look nice as well. I'm considering Purple Beach hedge plants for the second area as I believe they grown relatively high and provide a lovely colour all year round.