I put my faith in the plant description and brought three Fargesia home from a plant nursery in spring 2007. I was on a mission to find deer-proof evergreens that would provide a bit of privacy screening while adding a nice leaf texture. The clumping bamboo has met all of my needs.Fortunately, clumping bamboo is a well-mannered bamboo. There are no runners. The three plants have remained tightly clumped, with increase in size (width and height) that is similar to a miscanthus sinensis 'Cosmopolitan' (ornamental grass).
Fargesia is a cold hardy bamboo, suitable for zones 5-8a and full sun. Although the tags on my plants didn't have a name beyond "Fargesia" I believe that these are probably Fargesia rufa. The clump grows quickly into a fountain shape around 6 feet high. The broad base and fountain do require a bit of space, although I am growing perennials underneath the fountain shape.
The recent snow, as well as a few mornings of 8°F low temperatures, did not seem to have any adverse effects on the bamboo.
One bamboo is planted beside our bird feeder. The birds seem to delight in perching on the bouncing branches while they queue up for a turn at the bird feeder!
There is one other advantage to growing Fargesia rufa-- you can feed this bamboo to your pandas!
Photos and story by Freda Cameron
I am going to look into this bamboo...D you think this one would do well in containers? I have an unattractive wall that would benefit from a bamboo screen. Gail
ReplyDeleteGail -- given that it can take cold temps, I think a container is fine.
ReplyDeleteYou'll need a wide container. I bought 3 gallon size bamboo and these would easily need a container that is 3 feet wide at a minimum -- in only one year. I need to look into how to divide these. I'd like to have one up on my deck since they don't drop leaves very often.
Glad to hear this bamboo has behaved itself. I'd love to have some in my garden but am so afraid but yours sure looks nice.
ReplyDeleteGail, Did you know there is a big bamboo grower in the Nashville area-east I think. His name is Paul? I'd love to see his place.
What a nice evergreen screen for the garden and for the birds. My feeders are located next to my privacy fence with a extremely overgrown boxwood on the other side. The birds use this boxwood to perch in while waiting their turn at the feeders and a place to scramble to when danger is near.
ReplyDeleteYO!!! I found the name on my echinacea!! It is not ruby star!
ReplyDeleteIt is tiefrosa... hard to remeber...
Linda
Yes, I've recently read where others have talked about the clumping vs. running bamboo. I've never tried it because I've heard what an invasive plant it is. Well, I've gotten so many new ideas from you and all the other gardeners here. You get post ideas from something another blogger says, don't you?:) I've gotten many ideas, but then I don't post about it. Your posts, sometimes, are short...but present a point. I keep putting things off because I am too much of a 'perfectionistic' thinker, a disabling quality that prevents one from taking steps to doing something because a fear of failure has a grip on them. I am trying so hard to 'just do it' instead of spending so much time with things swirling in my head but not being put on paper (ah, I mean computer/blog!).
ReplyDeleteHow odd to see bamboo in the snow! It seems like such a tropical plant!
ReplyDeleteCameron,
ReplyDeleteI have some clumping bamboo too – Back Cane Bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra). There is little else in the garden prettier that doesn't have flowers. It seems to grow fine here in Buffalo's winters, although I can tell if winter didn't slow it down it would take over the neighborhood. When I put it in, my daughter was 6 at the time ans wanted to know if we'd get pandas in the yard, she was looking forward to it. Hated to let her down
Cameron .. I was so happy to see this type of bamboo late in the summer at one of the garden centers .. I planted two of them and I'm so curious to know how they have faired under our winter circumstances .. the variety was called "Green Panda" .. so I am getting the notion if I ever have a panda, it will be well provided for ? haha
ReplyDeleteI had planned to write about bamboo for months, but could not get a good photo until the snow. No pandas have shown up-- much to my disappointment!
ReplyDeleteI am writing this from a coffee shop using my ipod.
More later...
This is that second time this week I have seen clumping bamboo and up until now I’ve never heard of it. Hmmmm, maybe this is a sign I should get some. :-)
ReplyDeleteSo delicate and graceful. Not at all like the common bamboo I remember from my previous home on the Tennessee River;)
ReplyDeleteMarnie
Hi Cameron, Well, I don't have hungry pandas but maybe the peacocks would like it. HA. Seriously, this is interesting information about clump bamboo. it really had good habits... no running, no freezing, no leaf droppage... it's not hardy here but it makes wonder if there is one that is... Until recently I thought all bamboo was invasive... thanks for the good post giving me more to think about.
ReplyDeleteMeems @ Hoe and Shovel
Non-running bamboo - love it! A friend from California swears the neighbor's bamboo crawled under the street to come up in his yard. Perhaps exaggerated, but not by much. I'll have to get some of this for my panda :-)
ReplyDeleteRegards, VW
Great screen that deer will not eat. We dont have enough sun in our borders but if we ever loose the woods behind us due to development, I will remember this bamboo for a screen. If those woods are gone, we will be wide open with sunlight! Then the deer may not be a problem as they would loose part of their interstate in the woods….
ReplyDelete