I have bamboo planted all over my yard (about 60 varieties) and along parts of the property lines. My neighbor has a swimming pool and has about a 60' hedge of bamboo for screening purposes and it looks great. People in my area put in all kinds of privacy hedges and bamboo is just one option. I don't think it would look bad at all.

However, here are my concerns:

1. While going with a clumping bamboo is a good idea since you do not have to worry about the bamboo spreading to neighboring yards, it will require a lot of plants (probably one every 5'). Further, a $25 bamboo is probably a 1-gallon plant and will be only about 18" tall: it will take 5-10 years for these plants to be big enough to provide a privacy screen.

2. The bamboo you're talking about -- Fargesia robusta, I'm assuming -- is hardy, but only to about 0 degrees F; it will defoliate well above that temperature. Given that you list yourself as being in Zone 6, I'm not sure that particular species will survive your winters. You should look at one of the hardier Fargesia species that BambooGarden carries.

3. Bamboo experiences something called flowering. This happens rarely (like once every 20-150 years). However, when it does happen to a particular species it generally affects all the plants of that species worldwide over a couple of years. Flowering produces seeds, but it also usually kills the plant. That is why it's usually a bad idea to make a bamboo hedge out of only one species. If you are unlucky enough to have your one bamboo species flower at some time in the future, your whole hedge will be wiped out.

Therefore, I'm going to suggest: 1) that you get a variety of even more hardy Fargesias -- which will also give you some variety in the look of the hedge; and/or 2) that you consider using some various species of hardy running bamboo instead of clumping bamboo, and go to the trouble and expense of putting in bamboo barrier to keep it where you want it. It will grow faster than the clumpers, and you could start with fewer plants, and then take divisions to transplant to other parts of the fence line to fill in over a number of years.

Fargesia Robusta died in zone 6 for me, and I've never had a bamboo top-kill other than that one.

If you are looking for a screen, I would suggest running bamboo, especially the less aggressive species which don't make rhizomes like crazy. Getting a 1-sided barrier against the fence and then annual rhizome pruning on the other side will work fine. If you check out bambooweb forums, there are at least 3 people in New Jersey with their own collections of bamboo which you might be able to get a hold of for a bamboo visit & dig. Bamboos are pretty easy to control once you know how they grow.

I sugest running bamnboo i have golden bamboo in ny zone 7 and it does well. im trying to grow a privacy screen.
It remains evergreen here

A winter pic
{{gwi:403952}}

Kspear-
If you want clumpers to form a real barrier in less than 5 years, you're going to have to start with bigger (and more expensive) plants than 1-gallons. As for runners in containers, I think that so many containers would look bad. In addition, container-grown bamboo do not size up as fast, they are about 10 degrees F less hardy than if they were in the ground, and you will be re-potting them every 3-4 years to keep them healthy.

I love bamboo and have several varieties, but in your situation I would build a six foot wood privacy fence. I have one of those and it was well worth the cost.

Why not plant Bananaa Plants --- they grow very fast in the summer, dies back in winter, but shoots back out the ground the next summer ---- I planted a 125 foot row along an unsightly drainage ditch one year ,,, the next year i could not even see the ditch and they were over 15 feet tall and ohhhhh sooooo green and tropical looking--- i found before they frooze, i'd machette them a foot or hight from the grund and left the cut off part fall into the ditch --- they biodegrade into nothing eventually....sadly they all died when Hurrican Katrina hit and they stayed underwater for a couple weeks......BUT -- my Giant
Bamboo survived....