The Outsider: Immersive Bamboo and Lush Containers Define Bed Stuy Backyard

Necessity is the mother of invention, they say. That was certainly true of this exuberant outdoor space, wrapped in towering bamboo and studded with clusters of vibrant pots on a pea gravel surface. It adds up to a secluded spot with a tropical feel, for a client who wanted to use her garden for quiet reading and entertaining guests.

The garden’s design, by Dumbo-based landscape architect Liz Pulver, initially came about because a neighbor’s bamboo crept over the fence to Pulver’s client. She considered trying to dig up the bamboo or install underground barriers, but concluded the issue of aggressive bamboo would never be fully solved. “There’s no surefire way to control it,” Pulver said. “Those roots will continue to burrow. We could have moderate but not guaranteed success.” Besides which, the homeowner really liked the bamboo. “As things evolved, I had to agree,” Pulver said. “It’s incredible, the height of that stuff and the level of screening.”

At the outset of the project, the area in question — about 500 square feet, the rear half of a townhouse backyard — was almost wholly paved with concrete. (The portion of the garden closest to the house, beneath an existing deck, is used mainly by ground-floor tenants.) “It was grim, but we didn’t want to mess with the drainage. There were two drains, which generally worked well,” Pulver said. “We decided to keep the concrete, then layered a drainable mat and filter fabric, and put a 2-3″ deep layer of decorative pea gravel on it.”

To tame the bamboo, Pulver conceived a solution involving long, horizontal metal braces along the perimeter fence. “We had to go thick, because the bamboo stems are so powerful and strong. To hold it back securely, we needed material that wouldn’t bow out.”

Because of the garden’s concrete base, all the plantings are in containers. “We shopped for pots, including terracotta and glazed ones, a mix of colors and textures,” Pulver said. “We invested in five or six fancier pots from Europe. The rest were less expansive, from Campania International, which has a wide array.”

The existing deck, with a built-in banquette, was made of yellowish pressure-treated lumber. “We painted it gray to tone it down a bit,” Pulver said. The garden’s new wood fencing also weathers to gray.

The client’s colorful table linens and blue garden furniture gave Pulver “the hint that she liked color and fun and pizzazz,” which guided the selection of pots and plantings.

The metal fabricator tried a couple of different gauges of metal before coming up with the right thickness for the ingenious brace system.

A couple of deep maroon rectangular fiberglass planters contain more bamboo to screen the area underneath the deck.

“The deck is sunny and exposed,” Pulver said, while other spots are quite shady. Things like heuchera, salvia, sedums, and catmint fill the pots in sunny areas. Shade-tolerant ferns, boxwoods, and lysimachia do well in the lower part of the garden.

“A few times a year, we cut back the bamboo so it stays tucked in behind the braces,” Pulver said.

Pulver poured a couple of new concrete steps. “It creates three tiers, each at a slightly different level,” she said.

[Photos by Hulya Kolabas]

Got a project to propose for The Insider? Contact Cara at caramia447 [at] gmail [dot] com

The Insider is Brownstoner’s weekly in-depth look at a notable interior design/renovation project, by design journalist Cara Greenberg. Find it here every Thursday morning.

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