🌱 Which Plant is Right for You? Bamboo vs. Evergreen Hedges
🌿 Fast-Growing Screening Plants
Not sure which plant is best for your space? This guide will help you choose between bamboo, cherry laurel, photinia, and other evergreen shrubs based on your garden conditions, goals, and preferences. Whether you want fast-growing privacy, formal structure, or colour and texture, we’ll help you make the right choice.
🔎 Quick Guide – What to Choose?
Best for Quick Privacy
- 🏆 Top Picks: Bisset Bamboo, (Any other bamboo), Cherry Laurel
- Fastest-growing solutions for instant screening.
Best for Coastal Areas
- 🌊 Top Picks: Elaeagnus x Ebbingei, Photinia Red Robin
- Tolerate salty air and exposed conditions.
Best for Formal Hedges
- ✂️ Top Pick: Portuguese Laurel
- Elegant structure and smaller leaves for a tidy look.
Best for Colour & Seasonal Interest
- 🍁 Top Pick: Photinia Red Robin
- Red spring foliage and white flowers in early summer.
Best for Shade
- 🌳 Full Shade Tolerant: Cherry Laurel
- 🌤️ Partial Shade Tolerant: Portuguese Laurel, Bisset Bamboo, Yellow Groove Bamboo
Best for Wind & Exposed Sites
- 💨 Top Picks: Elaeagnus x Ebbingei, Portuguese Laurel
- Tough, resilient plants for challenging spots.
🌿 Plant-by-Plant Summary
🎍 Bamboo
- Appearance: Tall, elegant, with green or black canes and lush upright foliage.
- Growth Rate: Extremely fast – ideal for instant height.
- Eventual Size: Up to 7m depending on variety, but easily pruned to 2m+.
- Best For: Screening in borders or containers; tight spaces.
- Varieties:
- Bisset Bamboo – Fastest, most reliable for dense screens
- Golden Crookstem Bamboo – Bold colour, vigorous
- Black Bamboo – Slower to fill but beautiful, architectural form
✅ Ideal for: Urban privacy, patios, narrow beds, and large planters
🌿 Cherry Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus)
- Appearance: Glossy, dense green foliage; white flowers in spring.
- Eventual Size: 5–6m if left untrimmed.
- Growth Rate: Very fast – one of the quickest evergreen hedges.
- Best For: Privacy screening, noise barriers, informal hedges
- Sun/Shade: Tolerates both full sun and deep shade.
✅ Ideal for: Fast results in almost any location
🍁 Photinia Red Robin
- Appearance: Vibrant red new growth matures to green; clusters of white flowers in spring.
- Eventual Size: 3–5m
- Growth Rate: Medium-fast; responds well to trimming.
- Best For: Decorative hedging, colour interest, pollinator-friendly gardens
- Sun/Shade: Best colour in full sun; tolerates light shade.
✅ Ideal for: Statement hedging with seasonal flair
🌳 Portuguese Laurel (Prunus lusitanica)
- Appearance: Compact, deep green foliage with red stems and small fragrant flowers.
- Eventual Size: 3–5m
- Growth Rate: Slower than Cherry Laurel, but very refined.
- Best For: Formal hedging, shaded areas, long-term structure
- Sun/Shade: Sun or partial shade.
✅ Ideal for: Smart boundary hedging with a classic look
🌬️ Oleaster / Elaeagnus x Ebbingei
- Appearance: Silvery-green leaves with creamy, scented autumn flowers.
- Eventual Size: 3–5m
- Growth Rate: Fast, especially in exposed locations.
- Best For: Coastal and windy gardens, wildlife-friendly screening
- Sun/Shade: Thrives in sun or partial shade; very tolerant of poor soil.
✅ Ideal for: Tough sites where other plants struggle
💡 Our Top Recommendations
Need instant evergreen privacy?
🌿 Cherry Laurel is the quickest-growing evergreen shrub and the most popular choice for a reason — thick, tall, and fast.
Prefer a neater, more refined look?
🌳 Portuguese Laurel takes longer to establish but forms a denser, more formal hedge with smaller leaves and a tidy habit.
Need tall screening fast — even in containers?
🎍 Bamboo is unbeatable. Bisset and Golden Crookstem bamboo offer fast, upright growth, perfect for patios, balconies, or narrow beds.
❌ What About Fargesia Bamboo?
We no longer stock Fargesia. Although it’s non-invasive, Fargesia is a very slow-growing variety that rarely reaches good screening size in pots or the ground.
We focus on varieties that give our customers quicker results — especially for privacy.