Not sure what happened in my previous post...pics didn't come through...I'll try again...

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Hi - cute house, nice preserve in back!

I have giant bop/strelitzia nicolai, and it grew fairly quickly from a neat, tidy 5 ft. plant to a 25 ft. multi-trunked monster. So be careful what you wish for! It definitely provides some privacy, but might be overkill.

I haven't grown black bamboo, but over the weekend I saw a stand about 10 ft. thick. Really gorgeous, but you would need to be careful to contain the roots. I understand this is easier with a clumper, but still, some effort required. Also, as beautiful as bamboo is, the litter is undeniable.

Have you considered Dypsis lutescens/golden cane palm? I am told this is often used as a hedge in Florida. It's a multi-trunked palm reaching perhaps 15-20 ft in height. The trunks remain slender and have a yellow color to them. The nice thing about palms is they are really predictable as to their eventual size, and they won't take over your whole garden. If you planted 1 to 3 clumps, that would solve your problem. (This suggestion presumes your temperatures don't fall below 28F.) I am using these myself, but they are much cheaper in Florida, and probably available in larger size to get you off to a fast start.

Another suggestion is a shrub grown as a small tree, such as a hibiscus or fatsia japonica. These would be easily controlled as well, and at 8 to 10 feet, would be just enough to give you the privacy you seek.

Thanks so much for the reply Catkim! Yeah, I love the preserve - it's my favorite thing about living here, I'm trying to enhance it so it can be the "focal point" of the yard.

When I looked up Dypis lutescens it looks like golden palm is related to the areca palm and they do really well in my neighborhood, so I'm definitely going to look into that one more. I was thinking palms grow slowly, so I hadn't given them much thought for this spot.

I love the fatsia japonica! I didn't realize they get so large! All the pics I had seen show them as medium size plants, but I just checked and they can get 8 feet and still be narrow, so that might really be a winner there.

I think hibiscus dies in the winter here (my mom has some that do great, but she lives an hour south of me and it's usually a few degrees warmer).

I'm glad to hear your stelitzia nicolai was a fast grower - I was hoping for that. I just picked up 2 more today (3-4 footers), I think I'll put one in further down the line (they might hide the neighbor's shed).

Had no idea bamboo was so messy...if I do bamboo (and probably will...can't resist!), I think I'll put it towards the back corner where I plan to heavily mulch anyway.

I appreciate the reply to my very first post! I understand how to get the photos in now, so future posts will be better...thanks again!

I would be VERY leery of using black bamboo - I think you'll want to check out the thread below discussing this. More proof that depending upon what salespeople tell you is just not the most reliable information, unfortunately.

It seems to me that the biggest lack of privacy is at the corner, where the side yard widens into your backyard. I assume you use your side yard like most people do - it's a passageway, not a destination? That looks like a gate at the end of your photo. In that case, access and not interfering with the house drainage are the really critical aspects of landscaping the side.

What if you created an angled bed that contained a couple of strategically placed small trees? The bed can segue into a long narrow bed against the fence (warning: you'll need something to form a soil barrier to prevent the fenceboards from rotting) for some nice colorful plantings to break up the "march of wooden fenceboards" look (I have the same problem, as you can see from our photos).

Here's what I mean about the angled planting bed. Place the trees correctly, and they should interrupt the neighbor's sightlines and give both of you some visual privacy without seeming rude.
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For the side yard, yours seems a bit narrower than mine, so imagine just the concrete path and the planting area on the right, which is only 12" total - you should be able to make yours about 18". We started off with this:
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And ended up with this 3 yrs later:
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Our zone 9 is very different than other regions so I won't suggest plants outside of cannas. I've had excellent luck using shrubs trained as standards, though - they're faster growing than trees, and often provide beautiful flowers as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: Black Bamboo: clumping or running?

Wow jkom51 - your side yard is truly gorgeous! And in only 3 years! I love the black succulent (Swartzkopf or something?). I was not going to be too ambitous with the side yard, it's only five and a half feet wide and like you said, mainly a passageway for people and dogs, but you've given me hope!

You know, I knew I was going to have to do an angle at the corner of the house but I was really concerned about the angle defeating the purpose of the plantings (privacy), but your idea of angling into a deeper bed (much deeper than I was thinking) is really interesting and I could still tuck in some fatsia japonicas.

I like the AC covering idea too...I was going to block it on the other side with some trellis-type-thing to block some of the noise going to my own lanai...I heard you can do that with foamboard (disguised)...looking at your drawing I think it would look more finished if I continued it along the angled walkway.

Yes, I'll be careful about putting things up against the fence. As it is, I've been working on an entire yard perimeter of concrete stepping stones - one of my dogs is an escape artist and digs under the fence. This is not even foolproof with her...she's a challenge! Good thing the other dog is a perfect angel (he even barks to let me know when she's doing something bad in the yard like killing a snake, etc.).

Great ideas from you both jkom51 and catkim! I'm going to print this thread before it is buried in the forum.

I just read the black bamboo link you provided. I'm in Florida so we get lots of rain (often after weeks of no rain), so that's a little scary. Maybe I can plant it in a container and bury the container halfway in the ground? Or maybe I should just forget about the bamboo?! I definitely don't want to risk the bamboo spreading and naturalizing into the conservation area.

Thanks for the link...didn't realize it could get quite that bad.

Oh, that's right - you are bordering on a conservation area. In that case I would definitely nix the bamboo. The only thing that contains bamboo is 3-4' barrier of concrete (that's measuring UNDERGROUND), and I doubt you'll want to go to that much trouble. Intruding an invasive species onto a conservation preserve can be serious trouble - if it escapes and they have to go the trouble of killing it, they'll probably be able to bill you for all the expenses!

It is decided then...no bamboo!

I'll post some pics when I have some progress on the project...it'll be a little while though, I work alone and I tend to work s-l-o-w-l-y.