Bashania fargesii survey

[Alan_L]

I've got a small Bashania fargesii in a pot that will need a permanent home in my yard in the next year or two. From what I've read, this one will "really run", and since I don't have unlimited space I've been privately contacting some of the forum members who have this listed in their plants list.

I haven't yet found anybody who's had great success with it: "voles got to it", "gave it too much shade", "it topkills for me" -- these are all the types of things I'm hearing. So, I thought it would be good to do a little survey and find out if anybody has a "mature" planting of this, and if so, how it's behaved for you.

So if you're growing this, even if it's just a little guy in a pot, or has only been in the ground for a couple months (or whatever), please let me know your experience with it so far, especially with regard to it's running tendencies (and maybe how its aggressiveness compares to some other runners that you have).

Thanks!

[ghmerrill]

I got one this last summer, and planted it in an out of the way spot in total gray clay... not soil, or clay/dirt, but just nasty grey clay. it sent up one shoot about 2' away from the original two culms this last fall. Im really curious to see how it performs this next spring.

thats my expirence!

[David]

I've not had much luck with B. fargesii. It does not like our hot dry summers, and is one of the first to show frost damage in the fall. I think mine is only 3 years old, & perhaps it will show better vigor as it matures. Right now I'm not impressed. It is one of the least drought tolerant bamboo that I grow and requires lots of summer watering just to survive.

[kudzu9]

I've had good luck with it in Zone 8. It's at the NE corner of my house, and gets a fair amount of shade. It's been in the ground 4 years and has mainly stayed clump-like in fairly hard soil. The newest culms are about 3/4" in diameter and about 12' tall. It stays evergreen and bushy here. The last 2 summers it has sent out runners and put up a shoot or two about 1-2' from the main clump, which I've divided out. So far it's much better behaved than some of my Phyllostachys.

[Iowaboo]

I agree with David, mine seems to be one of the first hit by cold weather. Supposedly though it suppose to have good drought tolerance. On a sidenote survey, does Bashania sound like a good name for a human?

[foxd]

Supposedly in plants there is a link between drought tolerance and cold tolerance. Perhaps its drought tolerance is overstated.

[Iowaboo]

what about if you were known as Bashania Fox, or does that seem more like a girl's name? Maybe so

[needmore]

Mine may finally have outrun the voles, last winter it had pretty good leafburn after a low of around -2F but mostly leafed back out in the spring.

We'll see how it handles -7F tomorrow night with essentially no snow cover...

[foxd]

what about if you were known as Bashania Fox, or does that seem more like a girl's name? Maybe so

I could see it has a woman's name.

Temperatures were briefly above freezing and are now dropping rapidly.

[Alan_L]

Thought I'd check in and see how people's Bashania fargesii are doing this Spring.

Mine (in pot) is leafing out nicely, and the 2 shoots that emerged last fall (and were killed by winter) have put out several "taking over for the culm" branches. I did bury the pot for the winter and covered the plant when it got really cold so it kept a lot of its leaves, but no shoots this Spring. (It shoots early from what I've read here.) Since it "shot" for me in the fall last year, I'm still expecting shoots sometime before winter -- hopefully early enough that the culms will be able to survive.

So how did your plant fare this winter, and what has it done so far this year?

[David]

Dead, dead,dead. I'm through with this one.

[Iowaboo]

Mine is still sleeping

[David]

My in-ground plants (2) are sleeping permanently, the ultimate dirt nap!

[Iowaboo]

that's weird. I'll be on the lookout to see what degree of sleeping mine is doing.

On different note, bamboo in my signature has awakened this spring

[David]

Glad to hear of the awakening!