Bamboo is one of the few evergreen and partly hardy plants in our latitudes. Bamboo growers also value not only height, compact growth, leaves and color, but also robust and hardy properties.
What types and varieties of bamboo are there?
Bamboo species and varieties can be divided into clump-forming species, which do not form rhizomes, and rhizome-forming species, which spread underground. Clump-forming bamboos such as Fargesia and Borinda are easy to care for and hardy. Rhizome-forming species such as Phyllostachys require a rhizome barrier but can reach impressive heights in large gardens.
There are currently around 150 species available in garden shops across Europe. And new ones are added every year. A real treasure trove for bamboo lovers to experiment with. But due to the climate, only 20 are suitable for German gardens.
Why bamboo species and bamboo varieties are grasses
In order to organize the diversity of plants, botanists divided the plants into:
- Family – Grasses (Paceae)
- Genus – Phyllostachys
- Species – aureosulcata
- Variety – Aureocaulis
Flowers and genetics determine the system. This is not possible with bamboo because it flowers so rarely. That's why bamboo was classified into the grass family based on its stalk and leaf structure.
Even a 30 meter high bamboo has a stalk and not a trunk. In the bamboo family there are grasses that only grow to a height of 30 centimeters, such as Pleioblastus pygmaeus, but also some that grow over 10 meters high in this country, such as Phyllostachys viridiglaucescens.
Which bamboo is the right one?
When it comes to bamboo plants, not only hobby gardeners but also professionals are often overwhelmed by the variety of the range, the growth habits, the space required and the different information on winter hardiness. We want to clear up the bamboo jungle a bit. Bamboos basically differ in 2 groups:
- Horst-forming ones that do not form rhizomes
- Rhizome-forming ones spread limitlessly underground
If you want to find the right bamboo, you have to decide whether it should be the clumping type of bamboo or not. This bamboo plant is comparable to a tree in which only the trunk (in the case of a bamboo clump) slowly becomes thicker. They can be cultivated to a limited extent in smaller locations by cutting them off. They are clumpy, easy to care for, tolerate pruning very well, are evergreen and hardy. Such as the varieties of Borinda or Fargesia:
- Borinda
- Fargesia murielae denudata
- Fargesia murielae Flamingo
- Fargesia murielae Fresena
- Fargesia murielae Green Arrows
- Fargesia murielae nitida fountain
- Fargesia murielae robusta Campbell
- Fargesia murielae Standing Stone
- Jiuzhaigou1
- Jiuzhaigou-Geneve
Rhizome-forming, limitless growing bamboo plants are like a jungle feeling if you let the bamboo run wild! Culms can grow up to 10 meters high. Particularly suitable for a larger bamboo garden. A 70 cm wide rhizome barrier (€169.00 at Amazon) made of PEHD or HDPE film with a locking rail is absolutely necessary here!
If you are not afraid of the expense and effort and have a huge garden, you can enjoy a wonderful bamboo jungle. The main group of the rhizome-forming bamboo genus Phyllostachys are the following species:
- Phyllostachys auresosulcata
- Phyllostachys Aureocaulis
- Phyllostachys Spectabilis
- Phyllostachys bissetii
- Phyllostachys humilis
- Phyllostachys vivax Aureocaulis
- Pseudosasa japonica
Tips & Tricks
Keep your eyes open when buying bamboo! Pay attention to the variety protection symbol. These plants come from a seedling propagated by division. For plants called New Generation, the origin is unknown. They come from different seedlings. Do not buy plants that were propagated in the laboratory (meristem), such as Bamboo Select!