Question
I will be moving house shortly and would like some border ideas.  The garden is relatively small and not very private.  Initially I am looking for plants that will screen out the neighbors, but not impose too much into the garden.  Can you give me any planting ideas for borders that will reach at least 2m in height, but will not spread more than 1m into the garden.  Approx garden size is 8m x 10m.  I have been thinking about black bamboo as one species, but have not found any others yet.  I would like the border to be pretty much evergreen ?foliage being more important than the flowers, and must have a tropical or jungle feel. Temperature can reach -5C in Winter so very tender plants are out, although I could over-winter one or two specimens.

Thanks in advance,

Martin


Answer
Martin: It sounds like this is one out of my field.  While I can help you with some tropical plant ideas, I am not very good at converting metric units to our standard decimal nomenclature used here in the US. Many species of bamboo will withstand cold weather (to just above freezing) for short periods of time. Make sure you get the "clumping" kind and not the "running" type; otherwise you will have bamboo coming up everywhere you don't want it!

Check out Podocarpus macrophylius. It can be trained to be a hedge, is evergreen, and should withstand short periods of cold (hardy in zone 7). However, it is not very "tropical" looking. Some varieties of Rhododendron would work well with your climate, but they only get to be about 5 ft.

Sorry for not being able to help you more.  If you have additional questions, I'll be happy to try to help.

Rebbeca