Bamboos & Grasses
Phyllostachys bambusoides 'Holochrysa'
This is one of our favourite bamboos. It is also clump forming; however, it grows less tall than most other of our bamboos. It has beautiful gold culms and smaller leaves, which cause the gracefully arching canes to stand out individually.
Phyllostachys bambusoides 'Holochrysa'
These compacted or distorted nodes are the most distinctive feature of this bamboo.
Despite the plant name, the stems are green in the shade and will only turn golden (aurea) if grown in full sun. The erect culms have distinctive swellings at the base. To date growth of this bamboo in our garden has been not extended beyond the clump!
Phyllostachys vivax 'Aureocaulis'
This bamboo is very upright, graceful and a delight to see when there is a breeze. It has large diameter culms which are gold coloured when grown in full sun. The culms are also striped erratically and spectacularly with green, making this one of the most impressive of all hardy bamboo. It can grow to around 8m (25ft); however, these culms are around 5m (16ft) in height. It has large green leaves that contrast superbly with the thick vivid-yellow canes. One of our most popular bamboos.
Black Bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra)
One of the most stately and beautiful bamboos.
The culms are tall, slender and arching. With age and prolonged exposure to sunlight, they turn intensely glossy black, resembling polished ebony there is more need with this bamboo than most, to remove weaker and thinner stems. However we do find it somewhat more invasive than most of our other bamboos and certainly the roots seem to go deeper than others.
Therefore, although we do not use root barriers, we would advise that for most gardens it would be best to use a fairly deep root barrier for this very elegant and exotic looking plant.
Phyllostachys Shanghai
It was said to be Phyllostachys 'Shanghai' but 'Shanghai' grows huge and our bamboo has not done this.....so far! However, we agree that is one of our more rampant growers and so we reduce the clump in size every two years with our 'bamboo busting tools'!
"Bamboo taming tools"
With the right tools it is relatively easy to split up bamboos if they are getting too large or if there is an occasional 'runner' that needs to be removed.
We found the key tool was the tall one in the middle - this tool is very heavy and is really designed for breaking up concrete. Essentially it is like a long heavy iron crowbar with a chisel cutting edge at the lower end. This one weighs 7.5kg (17lbs)
The other tools are a tree spade/drain spade and a small saw; however, most of the work is done by the first tool that we described.
Phyllostachys vivax 'Aureocaulis'.
Phyllostachys vivax 'Aureocaulis'.
early spring will have to wait!
Phyllostachys vivax 'Aureocaulis'.
Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Aureocaulis'
Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Aureocaulis'
(2009 October 23) .
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