If you’re looking to add some shape to your garden without masonry or othe hardscaping, one option that’s worth considering is bamboo.
There are a lot of different landscaping applications for bamboo: you can use it to make privacy screens and fences. It can even be tethered together to make archways. Of course it’s a beautiful plant all by itself, even if serving no structural purpose.
Bamboo is naturally pest resistant, and it holds water very well, even during the hot and dry summer months. It also has an inherent asian aesthetic that is pleasing to the eye.
However, there are a few things to consider when using bamboo shoots in your garden.
Bamboo is a Fast Growing Grass
Although the layperson will often jump to the conclusion that bamboo is a tree-given it’s hardness- the reality is that bamboo is a grass. It’s a perennial grass, meanin that it has a ling life span, It is also one of the most rapidly growing pants in the world, and some species of bamboo can grow up to 100 feet tall, with some being abe to grow three feet in a single day.
Running vs Clumping Bamboo
When it comes to landscaping your garden, you’re going to make sure that you want to use a clumpingvariety of bamboo, as opposed to running bamboo. Bamboo has underground structures of roots and shoots called rhizomes, and the latter kind is so called because its rhizomes tend to spread out or runaway from the plant. In contrast, the former has rhizomes that tend to clump together close together.
Running bamboo is a problem because it can spread into neighboring properties and can even push up driveways in extreme cases.
Knowing When to Prune Bamboo
There’s no need to worry about bamboo growing to 100 feet though, as of the more than 1,200 varieties of bamboo that exist, the vast majority double in size over the course of a year. They are easy to prune too, and the best time to do so is at the end of summer or right at the beginning of fall.
It’s important to keep in mind that bamboo grows u during the summer months, and then the branch nodes grow laterally in the fall and spring. After winter, cut off any dead sections of cane to keep the plant healthy. Cut right above the nodes in the bamboo stalk to impede upward growth.
Always wear eye and hand protection as bamboo cuttings can be quite sharp.
Eden Restored is a team of passionate garden designers working throughout London, Kent and Surrey.
We deliver value-for-money on projects of any size, from inner-city courtyards to countryside cottages.
To discuss your ideas and how we can help throughout the entire process, get in touch.