Phyllostachys Species, Fairyland Bamboo, Fishpole Bamboo, Golden Bamboo, Monk's Belly Bamboo

Hi, I’ve been studying and growing bamboos since 1966. I first planted P. aurea in the early 70’s, in Nashville TN. The congested a...Read Morend contorted lower internodes of this species can be very interesting and beautiful. Deep in the forest it can be dark green, smooth, and shiny surface, yet on perimeter or exposed canes the color is yellowish tan because of sun exposure. Good quality wood and strong taper are common with this species.
Negatives might be winter kill, or at least winter damage, in Tennessee USA at least. Which makes the general look of the grove “unattractive”. It seems to be a typical running bamboo, no better-no worse than most in the Phyllostachys genus. Phyllostachys is by far the most common of all bamboo genera found in the eastern USA. I’ll try to post a pic or two as soon as I can go through my album. Thank you, Randy Allen of http://www.WhiteHouseArboretum.com

Growing this in a naturally formed giant's cauldron on our property where it cannot escape. Looks amazing all winter, and gives us a fres...Read Moreh look of summer because of its evergreen leaves. Evergreen around here equals conifers, so I am very happy with this plant!

This is among the species that give running bamboos a bad name.

The Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council has listed this as a...Read More Category ll invasive. It's also considered invasive in Hawaii. It has naturalized in 18 states, mostly in the southeastern US, but as far north as Pennsylvania.

Please note that even though I am giving this bamboo a 'Positive' I believe it should only be planted in certain environments and or if e...Read Morenough care is taking to keep it in check. Phyllostachys Aurea is considered the poster child for bad boy bamboos - at least in the southern US. Please consider though that this giant grass is only doing what it is programmed to do - which is to monopolize as much of the idea growing area its roots can find.

This bamboo is extremely successful for several reasons. (1) Once established it is very drought tolerant and can take the dry 100 degree summer heat in the southern US. (2) it can take winter freezes without ANY damage - not even leaf drop in my area which bottoms out in the low to mid teens. (3) Although it enjoys rich soil it will also survive and spread (a little slower) in poor soil conditions.

If you research web sites many people recommend clumping Bamboo. Unfortunately the clumping varieties that can take our occasional winters in the low teens without severe damage will die during our hot summers even if you give them plenty of water. I do grow heat tolerant clumpers (Textilis Gracilis and Alphonse Karr) and during mild winters (not below 20) they are fine but if it drops to around 15 all of the newest culms that came up the previous August will die and the plant will lose the majority of its leaves and some of the older culms may perish as well. They also will stay stunted the first summer after a hard winter and do not send up many culms and they are not near as tall or thick.

Even though my nearest neighbor is a ways off from my land I decided I did not want this bamboo to have free will on where it wants to grow. My soil is extremely rocky so I spent weeks digging down 2 feet (using a jackhammer) then cemented some of this rock around the four sides and made the walls of rock and cement a foot higher than the surrounding ground making it a raised bed. Then I filled it with a truckload of rich soil which had lots of composted manure.

This bamboo spreads by underground stems but these grow very close to the surface and often they will come above ground to jump over an obstacle then stab back into the ground. My theory was since the planting area was raised I would be able to see it try to jump the wall. I also dug a small trench around the planting area just in case some of the roots decided to go deep I could see them jumping across the trench. After four years this bamboo has filled the area nicely and is about 22 feet tall and I have only had one attempted jail break. One root stem found a hole in the raised rock wall and snuck through stabbing into the ground in a place where I did not notice it until culms came up outside the wall the following May. I dug up the escaped roots tracing it back to the hole and fixed the breach in the wall. These underground stems are very tough and once you get a firm grip you can usually pull them up and back to the source without them breaking as you see with many other invasive plants.

If what I have done to keep this under control seems like a lot of work let me be clear - it WAS a lot of work. So far I am successfully containing this beast and able to enjoy it in the area where I wanted it to thrive. If you do not have cranky (or litigious) neighbors near you and you do not want to take all the steps I took you can plant it - then in May when it sends up shoots in unwanted areas you can either mow them down, or kick or steps on them to break the culms when they are first shooting up from the ground. AFter the spring shooting season is over you will be good until the following spring then it will send up more shoots. This bamboo ONLY shoots in the spring UNLESS a root stem becomes seperated from the mother plant, then it will try to send up a small culm to leaf out and feed the root. If it cannot do this within a short period of time that piece of root will die.

My mother lives in a subdivision where the contractor put down 6 inches of topsoil on all the lots with houses side by side which gives a runner like this perfect conditions to spread. Her neighbor planted this bamboo and it was not long before it was also in her yard. She lets the ones near the fonce grow since it provides privacy and nothing she has ever planted on the north side of the house has grown well so she likes it. I asked her how she was keeping it from spreading in other areas and she said she steps on them when they come up in the spring.

Unlike other grasses Bamboo does not keep growing when the above stemps are cut - instead the cut place dies down to the nearest node. If my 82 year old mother is able to keep this bamboo in check then you may be successful as well. If you plant it then walk away ignoring it for seven years the next time you look you will have a forest of bamboo that would take a great deal of effort to control or get rid of.