Plant pick: Well-behaved bamboo

Published 3:20 pm Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Fargesia robusta is a graceful clumping bamboo with shiny olive-green leaves and a robust, but not invasive, growth habit, maturing to 15 feet wide and high in 10 years. Its leaves are narrow, lance-shaped and finely tapered, and its canes are typically about 1 inch in diameter.

New shoots feature tightly overlapping sheaths, which are deep burgundy at the margins, fading to pink and tan in the middle and pastel green near the tips when they emerge in spring. Eventually the sheaths fade to whitish-tan, creating a beautiful checkered pattern against green shoots.

Robust bamboo clumps send up two crops of new shoots each year, one in early spring and another smaller flush in late summer. It can withstand cold winters and windy conditions with minimal leaf stress. It grows well in sun or shade, making it a versatile landscape plant. In hotter areas, however, it prefers shade during the hottest part of the day. It grows best in fertile, moisture-retentive soil and can easily be pruned if a narrow, upright screen is desired.

www.GreatPlantPicks.org