Projo Garden Blog

There are two main categories of bamboo -- running and clumping. As I wrote earlier in Bamboo Part 1, running bamboo really does take off!

This can be a good thing in the right circumstances. Take the case of a recent visitor to the farm. A lovely lady came looking for some plants to cover an area in front of her house on a city lot. The area was bound by the house foundation on one side, the sidewalk on the opposite side and, as the bamboo wrapped around the house to either side it could be contained by a retaining wall. The owners had tried Vinca minor and seen it overtaken by weeds before it could establish itself.

Bamboo to the rescue! What was called for was a vigorous spreading evergreen that would crowd out all other species and take no prisoners. We recommended Pleioblastus pygmaea. No, that isn't a tribe in South America. It's a short – about 2 feet tall – tough little bamboo ground cover, perfect for areas that need an aggressive spreading evergreen. This photo shows some that has been cut to the ground in early spring and is filling back in.

Most people think of pines and spruces when they hear the word "evergreen." Yet most bamboo foliage will remain green all year round. Sometimes, when exposed to drying winter wind or rapid freezing, the leaves will turn a beige color, like an ornamental grass. When spring rolls around, however, the new foliage will push any dead foliage off and produce new green leaves. In addition, as in the photo above, the short varieties can be shorn to the ground and will re-sprout quickly to produce a full lush look.

There are a number of varieties that can be used as a ground cover including yellow variegated Pleioblastus viridi striata, and white variegated Pleioblastus fortunei. Some online references rate these at a conservative zone 6b or 7a, which many in the Rhode Island/southeastern Massachusetts area may fear is not hardy. Our experience here in Attleboro, with recorded temperatures as low as minus-12 degrees, is that these varieties have reliably wintered over, and thrived as solid ground covers.

Comments

Rudi Hempe said:

It appears this bamboo that "takes no prisoners" is pretty invasive. Japanese knotweed was brought in in the 1800s as an ornamental and is today a curse. What are the sources? How shade tolerant is it?

Rudi - Yes, Japanese Knotweed is, indeed, a problem. The key difference, however, is that Knotweed produces huge amounts of seed that germinate readily, travel well on water ways and are carried by the wind. This makes it a huge threat to indigenous plants that aren't such good propagators. Pleioblastis will only go to seed once in the entire lifetime of the species (about 70 - 100 years) and does not germinate easily. This means the only way for the plant to spread is through runners generated from a mother plant.
It appears to tolerate quite a bit of shade, although I would start it in a sunny/partly shady spot and let it creep into the shade on its own.

Link | August 31, 2007 8:42 AM
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