by Chris Winslow
Today let’s celebrate this amazing grass. A few facts: over a billion
people around the world live in bamboo houses; there are 1,500
species; and it can grow 4 feet in a day.
Also people are getting more creative in their uses of it. You can
now buy a bicycle with a bamboo frame, flooring, sheets for your
bed, and most recently, bamboo frames for your eye glasses.
As wonderful as all this is, of all the great screening plants available
for our central Texas area, bamboo is the most misunderstood. Bam-
boo is on the ‘bad boy’ list of the City of Austin and the Grow Green
Guide, where it is listed as an invasive species.
If you plant a ‘running’ bamboo as a fast growing screen, expect
a chill in relations with your neighbors. They are going to be kept
busy year after year combating your invasive running shoots.
The solution is simple enough. Plant ‘clumping’ bamboo rather
than running bamboo. The clumping ones look beautiful in our land-
scapes, and you will still have cordial relations with neighbors.
Clumping varieties grow slowly in circles, and send out new shoots
from their base rather than going madly across the yard. My favorite?
Alphonse Karr. It’s 15 to 20 feet tall, and is one of the most cold
hardy of the clumpers.
The shoots often appear pink to red in color, while stalks or culms
are orange-yellow with a vertical green stripe. Planted on 2 to 4
foot centers, this bamboo will make a satisfyingly dense privacy
screen.
Plant them individually, and you will find Alphonse Karr makes
an attractive specimen plant. When looking for suitable clumping
forms of bamboo, pick one that has sufficient tolerance to cold.
Many are damaged when temperatures fall below 20 degrees. (This
was the lesson the recent severe frost reminded us of.)
Other good ones to look for are golden goddess, Buddha’s belly,
and giant timber. Golden goddess is a dwarf form, rarely growing
taller than 8 feet. Its density makes it an effective screening plant.
Buddha’s Belly is a tall clumper with zig-zag culms.
Giant timber bamboo can grow over 30 feet tall and produces giant
green culms. To see a healthy specimen, check out the giant timber
bamboo at the Four Hands Furniture Warehouse of St. Elmo east of
I.H. 35.
Giant Timber should be placed in a somewhat protected location
as its winter hardiness is placed at 18 degrees. Care and location
for growing of bamboo is important if you want a fast growing
screen. Most bamboos thrive in a sunny to partly sun location
with plenty of moisture.
Our native soils should be enriched with compost at the time of
planting. Continued moisture and feeding is essential if you want
them to grow at high speed.
You can also grow them in containers. Choose one with good drain-
age and select a premium potting soil mix. I once planted two large
golden goddesses in a four foot tall, oblong cattle trough to provide
screening and privacy on a back porch. It worked great!
You can see plenty of bamboo at Casa de Luz in Austin (1701 Toomey
Road, Austin 78704), and Zilker Park's Taniguchi Japanese Garden.
Happy gardening everyone!
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