Not sure if a bamboo is a runner or clumper? Exercise caution.

A customer who bought bamboo from us in January recently went to a local flea market where she purchased a container of bamboo from someone who couldn't say what kind of bamboo it was.  The customer then sent us the following picture of the bamboo along with an email asking us to identify the plant for her:

Buying bamboo from someone who isn't certain what kind of bamboo they are selling is risky

Hi, I went to a flea market and stumbled upon a bamboo that almost has a resemblances of a golden goddess, but I am not sure. She didn't even know what it was either. It was claimed as an clumper. Do you think you could identify it? I have the picture.

My response:
It is definitely not Golden Goddess and there's a good chance it is not a clumping bamboo at all.  When you buy bamboo from someone who has no idea what plant they are selling - especially if that bamboo is tantalizing inexpensive - you are very likely to be purchasing one of the many varieties of running bamboo, all of which are much easier to propagate than clumping varieties.  

Running bamboos are invasive and once established, they are very difficult to remove. 

Instead of planting in the ground what might turn out to be an unwanted running bamboo, you might try growing it in a large pot for one growing season.  After a year, you will be able to tell by its growth patterns whether it is a clumping or running bamboo.

Look how big bamboo can get in one summer!

A customer who bought two different types of clumping bamboo in May wrote to say how well their bamboo is growing:

Aloha Sherry and Ralph - Six months ago I bought a 30 gallon Textilis Mutabilis from your amazing collection. This Emerald has generated 26 new canes already. I enriched the planting bed with 30 bags of Black Kow, peat and organic soils mixed together,fertilized, plus watered faithfully every morning before work.

The two little sisters are Textilis Gracilis (Graceful); these two were only 3 gallon specimens and have produced 17 new canes each in the five month interval since they were planted!

My neighbors are thrilled with the unique tropical beauty of these upright, tight clumpers in our typically small suburban lawns. I'm looking forward to the privacy screen, shade and windblock/ noise barrier this living fence will create.

Thanks for your informative web site and blog. Kind regards, Freddy

After planting in May - One Emerald on the left with two Gracefuls to the right

6 Months Later - the same Emerald with the 2 Gracefuls to the right

The same 6-month-old plants as seen from the opposite side

 

Bamboo Question: Sun or shade?

Customers often ask if bamboo needs a sunny location or can it grow in shady conditions.  We explain that it doesn't make that much difference if the location is sunny or shady.  What is important are the soil and water conditions.  Bamboos grow best in rich, well-irrigated soil, regardless of whether the location gets a lot of sun or very little. 

Below are a couple pictures of some Bambusa textilis growing very nicely in the shade of some tall pine trees.

The pine tree sends shade down while the bamboo grows up...

...right through the pine tree branches!

Before and After - Graceful

Ken, a customer from Tampa, emailed to say how pleased he is with the screen provided by the 9 Graceful bamboos he installed in August 2009.  Eager to create a tall, dense screen to hide a noisy A/C unit and provide privacy from neighbors, Ken decided to purchase 7-gal size Gracefuls instead of 3-gal size plants.  Bamboos in larger containers have bigger root systems, which can support more culms as well as larger diameter and taller canes. 

Sherry and Ralph,

It has been almost a year since we installed the Graceful bamboo I purchased from you. I have enclosed pictures showing the transformation in just 1 year! We are very pleased with the outcome.

August 2009

Three 7-gal Gracefuls were planted about 4' apart in front of a noisy A/C unit

The remaining six Gracefuls, also planted about 4' apart, bordered the fence.  Note the narrow planting bed in both pictures.

 One Year Later  

July 31, 2010

Where is that annoying A/C unit???

And the fence...What fence?  It must be behind there somewhere...

One more view of the entire fence line, including the now-hidden A/C unit

Blue Timber Bamboo - A most beautiful clumper

BLUE TIMBER BAMBOO 

Bambusa Chungii
Can grow 30-35 feet with 2" diameter canes. Very Hardy

A powdery coating on both new and mature canes gives Bambusa chungii the alternative name of White Bamboo

Although we call this Blue Timber Bamboo, it is also known as White Bamboo. The name comes from the whitish-blue powder that covers the new canes as they develop. With an upright growth pattern and thin-walled culms, this stunning bamboo contrasts beautifully with the dark green canes of Seabreeze, Oldhamii or the attention-getting bright yellow canes of Sunburst, Asian Lemon or Hawaiian Gold. 

The white powder covering the culms comes off when touched

Use it as a centerpiece plant or create an attractive hedge that will mature quickly into an eye-catching focal point. 

This 4-year-old stand of Blue Timber started out with just one single cane when it was first planted in 2006.  Over the years new shoots appeared on the perimeter but, unlike many other clumping bamboos, Blue Timber shoots come up a bit away from older canes giving the clump a more open, grove-like appearance.

Blue Timber canes are gorgeous! Whenever visitors to our nursery walk through the "tunnel" of Blue Timber bamboo, they are always awed by the plants' exquisite appearance.

Two Blue Timber bamboos form a tunnel.  The bamboos were both planted 10' apart in 2006, each from one single cane.  Today they form a beautiful shady tropical oasis.

A close up look at the tip of a new Blue shoot

A long view shows of the shape of a four-year-old clump of Blue Timber. 

Also available is a shorter clone perfect for smaller gardens called BABY BLUE (Bambusa chungii barbellata) which grows 20 to 25 feet tall with slightly narrower canes and the same striking colors. 

Emerald - A bamboo gem

EMERALD TIMBER BAMBOO    

Bambusa textilis mutabilis/Kanapaha
Can grow 30-40 feet with 2" diameter canes. Very Hardy

Emerald - also called Royal Bamboo or Wong Chuk - is a stately and elegant cold-hardy bamboo

I often refer to Emerald as the "big brother" to Graceful bamboo because they are both members of the Textilis family of bamboos.  

The new shoots come up fairly close to existing canes, which produces a nice tight clump that will not only look attractive but help to provide a dense privacy screen.

Emerald is one of the cleanest, neatest looking specimens we carry.  The tall, straight canes on this timber bamboo have very few side shoots so they rarely need pruning.  The space between culm sections is unusually long, which give the bamboo an especially striking appearance. 

The new canes have a slight bluish tint

Another striking feature is the slight blue tint that appears on new shoots and remains throughout the first year of growth.  After that, the blue changes to an emerald green color, which means at all times the clump has multiple shades of color.

The four clumps of Emerald that I'm standing next to are just 1 year old.  Each one started with a single cane planted 4' apart.  In only one growing season they have formed a tall, full hedge. 

Many people who look at Emerald in our demonstration area say, "This is what bamboo is supposed to look like." 

Planted in 2002, this mature specimen of Bambusa textilis Emerald also started out with just one single cane.  Look at it now!

GOLDEN GODDESS BAMBOO Bambusa multiplex golden goddess

This delicate-leafed hedge bamboo is a great choice for a smaller lot.  It also works well as a container plant for patios or poolside planting.  Golden Goddess can tolerate winter temperatures that dip for short periods of time into the high teens, making it a good choice for people living in Zone 8 - 10.

If planted 4' to 6' apart in rich soil that's watered and fertilized regularly, this semi-dwarf (6' to 12' tall) bamboo with 1/4" to 1/2" canes will form a solid wall of green by the end of its first growing season.

Our daughter Jenny stands in front of a 4-year-old clump of Golden Goddess that shows off the bamboo's distinctively round, fluffy shape.  

Even though Golden Goddess tends to grow in what I call a "snowball" shape, it is easily pruned to take the form of whatever shape works best in the landscape.  The line of Golden Goddess below demonstrates how nicely Golden Goddess can be pruned to create a short squared off hedge.

We offer Golden Goddess in 3-gal, 7-gal and 15-gal size containers.  Even in 3-gal containers, Bambusa multiplex golden goddess is already quite tall and has multiple canes as Ralph demonstrates in the photo below:

A closeup shot shows the size of this bamboo's canes.  Golden Goddess culms are small but plentiful.  They rarely get larger than 1/2" diameter.

 

Bambusa multiplex Silverstripe - Green Hedge Clumping Bamboo

If you are looking for a bamboo that will provide a dense screen, buffer wind, block sound and tolerate winter temperatures that dip into the high teens, Bambusa multiplex Silverstripe is the bamboo for you.  This extremely functional bamboo is also one of the least expensive bamboos we stock, which makes it ideal for long fence lines or perimeter plantings.  

The clump of multiplex that our daughter Jenny is kneeling next to was planted in 2002 from a 3-gal size plant with only one single cane.  Over the years as the root system developed, new shoots appeared around that first cane to form what soon became a leafy, thick cold-hardy clump of sound-, sight- and wind-buffering bamboo.  Looking at how it looks now, it's hard to believe that large clump started with just one single cane.  But it did!

Multiplex has been a landscape fixture for decades in many southeastern states.  It is often found surrounding the perimeter of old homesteads, especially here in Florida.  When we first moved to our property, we planted extensive stands of Green Hedge.  Those that were planted in rich, peaty soil grew huge while the ones we planted at the same time in sandy, nutrient-poor soil grew about a third as tall as their rich-soil counterparts.  The smaller plants are still healthy, they just grew slower due to the less rich soil. 

Below are four pictures of multiplex that show how quickly a 3-gal size plant with just one cane can grow into a large verdant clump.

The one-month-old multiplex above started out with just one cane - the smaller one to the left. The cane on the right appeared shortly after it was planted.  Below are two more pictures of the same plant after it has been in the ground for one year:

Notice that some of the new shoots are yellow with green stripes.  As the culms mature, they lose the yellow color and turn green.  However, sometimes a bit of striping remains lower down on the culm.  The young leaves are often striped as well, as can be seen in the forefront of the picture below.  That's what gives this particular strain of Bambusa multiplex the name "Silverstripe."

The same one-year-old bamboo seen from afar, below:

Below are two pictures of mature fence line plantings of Bambusa multiplex Silverstripe bamboos.  Both plantings started with lines of 3-gal size plants spaced 10' apart.  The bottom photo was taken when the stand was about 5 years old.  The top photo with our son Toby standing next to the bamboo, was taken when the bamboo and Toby were both about 9 years old.  They say kids grow up fast but bamboo grows up faster!

 

A customer shares photos of Angel Mist and Giant Timber Clumping Bamboos

A customer who bought bamboos from us three years ago returned to pick up four more plants this morning.  A few hours later, I received this email from her:


Hi, Sherry,
Many thanks for all your time this morning, walking me round the various specimens and for all your sage advice on which bamboo to choose. 

I'm attaching a few pictures I just snapped for you to show you my existing Giant Timber and Angel Mist bamboos. Not a bare cane in sight!

 Two Giant Timber bamboos - photo taken when they were 2 years old.  When they were first planted, both plants only had 1-3 canes and were just about as tall as the fence.

I have to say that I never thought I'd pay such so much money for such small plants, but what one is actually buying, of course, is the potential and the fun of watching them grow. 

When we first bought the Angel Mist about three years ago, I think it was, the children and I had so much fun walking up to the end of the garden every day to see how many new canes had emerged, what diameter they'd be, and how much they'd grown overnight. The second year I gave up looking - I couldn't keep up!                                

 Angel Mist

When my husband first mentioned wanting bamboos in the garden a few years ago I was rather ambivalent to the idea, but now I'm a devotee! Thank you for your wonderful showcase, which makes it so much easier to understand the differences between the different types available. I want a grove of that Vivax one day and when we do move I just might have to get a Ying-Yang to go with me!

Hello Doli! - Before and After photos of Bambusa dolichomerithalla "Silverstripe"

These "Before and After" photos just arrived in my inbox from Orlando-area customer, Andy Roy.  

Hi, Sherry,

I thought I'd share a couple of pics on the 1-year anniversary of our first bamboo planting.  I put these 3 gallon bambusa dolichomerithalla "Silverstripe" in the ground last May.  They put up shoots through November, but didn't manage to fill out with leaves until the last month or so.  Amazing transformation!  If they were just a touch taller, we'd already have all the shade we are looking for.  By next year, it will be mission accomplished for sure. So far, no new shoots this spring. 

Below: May 2009 from the deck

Below: May 2010 from the deck

 

Above: May 2009 from the yard

Below: May 2010 from the yard 

The bamboo Andy planted, Bambusa dolichomerithalla "Silverstripe", is a clumping variety that we have since phased out of production.  Although it forms a lovely stand and is cold hardy, this particular bamboo looks very similar to several of our other cold-hardy clumpers.  In our effort to make the selection process simpler for customers, we chose to discontinue propagating this particular cultivar.  We still have a limited number of 7-gal and 15-gal "Doli's" available at half their regular price.  If you are interested, call or email for more information.  Sherry@beautifulbamboo.com

 

See for yourself how fast bamboo grows!

The three Seabreeze clumping bamboos above were planted 5' apart in May 2008 from 3-gal size plants. The hedge is now approximately 14' tall. When the bamboos were first planted in May, each plant was about 6' tall and only had one cane. When they were planted, the three Seabreeze looked similar to the two Seabreeze on either side of the sign pictured below (click on image to make it larger and easier to see):



Keep in mind that the bamboos in the top photo have only gone through one growing season. As the weather warms this spring, summer and fall, many new shoots will emerge growing to be taller and larger diameters than the existing canes. By the winter of 2009 our demonstration hedge will have formed an even more solid wall of green than it already is. By the same time, the bamboos in the photo below (which were planted in January 2009) will have gone through one growing season and will look just like the hedge pictured in the top photo.