You might want something fast-growing to provide some privacy while your ideal trees grow in.
How many linear feet of screen do you need?
Lots of big trees would be VERY expensive.
Small trees will take some years to spread enough to touch each other, and get tall enough for your purposes.
Even bamboo takes 2-3 years to add 5-6 feet to the size you buy in pots. And clumpers will spread sideways even slower than they add height from year to year.
Fargesia rufa only spreads sideways a few inches per year at the base, but since they droop like umbrellas, the foliage spreads sideways much faster for the first few years. It grows UP quickly, then flops OVER, spreading wide.
Here's a good website for searching for bamboo varieties. ABS. I think Zone 5 means -20 F in an average winter? Good luck with bamboo! I think many will drop their leaves when that cold.
http://www.bamboo.org/BambooSo...
Yup. Searching ONLY for clumpers:
-20 F: none
-15 F: 6 varieties of
Fargesia murielae and Fargesia nitida
-10 F: 9 varieties, all Fargesia, including
Fargesia dracocephala 'Rufa' , which I guess is the "new" name for my F. rufa.
2009:
2013: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2014
