Types of Bamboo Fencing

!±8± Types of Bamboo Fencing

There are a lot of different styles of bamboo fencing, and choosing the right one for your back yard depends on your taste and the kind of décor you're looking to achieve. Almost all commercially available bamboo fencing will come in either rolls or panels. The most common kind will be made of long poles with a diameter of approximately 1" or of thinner canes about ½" in diameter. These poles or canes will be held together by heavy-duty galvanized wire.

This kind of framework, rolls and panels come in woven bamboo also. These consist of smaller canes held (usually also by wire) in bundles. Another style of bamboo fencing is called split bamboo fencing, made of the outer half of the bamboo cane and held together by wire. Bamboo fencing made of woven or split bamboo, however does not last as long as fencing made of sturdier poles or canes.

Now, these are just the basic styles of bamboo fencing, the ones most commonly available commercially. But bamboo fences have been fundamental components of Asian and Asian style courtyards and gardens for hundreds of years. There is a plethora of more specific styles, some which are simple and some which can be enormously intricate. Here are a few popular ones that come from the Japanese architectural tradition. All of them use a dark twine called shuro nawa to hold small bamboo poles together.

Misu - This is a kind of screening fence that uses horizontal bamboo poles like slats, installed on a vertical support structure of posts on either side of the fence.

Kenninji - This style is a classic screening fence style with no gaps between panels or poles. The bamboo panels are supported by half-round rails attached with dark twine.

Twig fence - This is a much less traditional and simple bamboo fencing style. It is basically bundles of bamboo twigs attached to horizontal or vertical support posts. A casual, tropical look.

Yotsume - Yotsume is an open-style fence consisting of broad horizontal rails supported by pickets. Its surface appearance shifts depending on the angle from which you look at it.

Royanji - This is a shorter fence suited especially for gardens. It consists of a lattice of narrow bamboo shoots connected to top and bottom rails, which are supported by posts on either side of the fence.