Growing bamboo in the UK.

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Finding the Spot

The winds of change have blown through the gardening world during the last twenty years. With the modern trends now turning towards smaller and more minimalist gardens and the rise in popularity of planned low maintenance and theme gardens from oriental to modern contemporary styles there has been a renewed interest in grasses and bamboos.

Many bamboos are undeniably exotic adding grace, form and movement to a garden. Contrary to popular belief however most bamboos are not invasive.

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Bamboo in general require little more than a moist fertile soils and an annual brush up. There are literally thousands of bamboos to choose from however only about seventy can be considered truly hardy and ornamental and suitable for planting in the United Kingdom.

When choosing a bamboo for your garden you are making an investment, some of the rarer and highly ornamental bamboos are expensive so you want to see that bamboo give you the returns that you deserve. So like any investment it is important you give some consideration to where you are going to put your money, or in this case your bamboo.
High exposure, poor placement, indifference will not produce the returns you want.

In order to understand about where to grow bamboo successfully in your garden it's important to understand a little about their growth habits. Perhaps the most important thing to know if you are unfamiliar with bamboos is that bamboos are true grasses, they reproduce mostly vegetatively that is by sending up new shoots from their roots or rhizomes. Flowering is very rare indeed sometimes only once in eighty years.

There are basically two distinct types of root system "pachymorphic" (clump forming) and "leptomorphic" (running bamboos) we will just refer to them as clumpers and runners. Clumpers which include most of the Phyllostachys and Fargesia species, in short it means the root system is short and terminates with a new shoot that will produce single culms stem. In consequence clumpers tend to be well behaved and suitable for planting as a specimen in a lawn for instance.

Runners on the other hand are more rampant. The root system spreads out creeping through the ground in long fingers and throwing up shoots at regular intervals and they can rapidly colonise large areas of a garden very quickly. It is the more rampant species of these runners Sasa and Indocalmus that probably gave bamboo its reputation for being invasive. So unless you have a very large garden or you want to prevent soil erosion avoid the runners or restrict them to large pots or planters where they can look stunning without causing the headache.

Consider the final size of the bamboo you choose in relation to the size of your garden. Bamboos can vary greatly, they all start out looking much the same in a two litre pots but a " Pseudosasa owattarii" may reach 1 meter (3 feet) in ten years whereas a Phyllostachys Bambusoides can reach 20 meters (65 feet) in its natural environment and regularly tops 10 meters (33 feet) in some temperate areas in the United Kingdom. Unless you want to keep Giant Pandas you need to give careful consideration to the final size of the specimens you plant in your garden. The other option again is of course garden planter or tubs. Bamboo in someway similar to Koi Carp or Goldfish, as I call them, tend to grow in proportion to their environment in other words the larger the pot the larger the plant and vice versa.

Most bamboos like most grasses and indeed I myself prefer a position that is in full sun and not exposed to the harshest of elements and sufficient to eat and drink plus a little TLC in order to be completely happy. There are however a number of very rugged characters such as " Phyllostachys Bissettii" that can withstand the harshest of conditions. So consider where you want to plant. If it is exposed choose an exposure tolerant bamboo, if the site is shaded choose a bamboo that prefers light shade such as " Fargesia Nitida . If the soil is dry or watering is a problem choose a drought tolerant bamboo such as " Phyllostachys glauca"

Soil is not so much of a problem it can always be improved. Apart from a few species which require either alkaline or acid soils the majority of bamboos are tolerant of most soil types as long as they are moist and fertile. Bamboo unlike other true grasses are hungry feeders and the incorporation of good farmyard manure some bone meal or compost will improve the soil admirably and be appreciated.

Try to keep the soil evenly moist but not over watered. A good mulch will help prevent the soil from drying out too fast and add valuable humus as it breaks down. I usually feed in the spring with a little bone meal and a watering can of Phostrogen at the maker's recommended dilution a few weeks prior to the culms emerging does not go amiss.

One point to note, do not clear away the fallen leaves from bamboo. They are a valuable source of silica which is essential for the bamboos strength and flexibility. If you have a garden shredder you can shred these fallen leaves and any culms or canes removed and incorporate them in the soil or the mulch to replace the silica in the soil which will otherwise become depleted.

Bamboo on the whole are pretty pest and disease resistant, but you may suffer from the occasional infestation from aphids, mealy bugs or vine weevil. I am not opposed to using proprietary sprays to control these, after all if I had a headache I would probably take an aspirin. If you prefer there are a number of organic alternatives available and can be found at any good garden centre.

I If you are unfortunate to suffer an attack of Bamboo Mite then I would highly recommend you cut down the canes to ground level and burn them and spray the surrounding area with a miticide. Don't fret though your bamboo will soon recover and generate a new array of exotic culms and foliage for your pure delight.

All these bamboo plants and more available on-line at The Bamboo Store

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