Best yellow bamboo with green stripes

[boonut]

There are a lot of tropical clumping bamboo that is yellow with green stripes. I would like to hear different viewpoints as to which is the best and why. I can grow just about any of them.

I am looking for the best based on experience with several varieties. I want to plant a very long row and want to get started with propagation.

I only have B. Vulgaris vittata, B. Ventricosa kimmei, B. Eutuldoides viridi vittata, Schizostachyum Brachycladum, and D. Minor amoenus.

Ideas????

[kudzu9]

So does that mean you don't want to hear from those of us who can't reliably grow those species outdoors, or would you be open to hearing commercials for hardy runners like Robert Young, Castillon, Spectabilis, Ph. aurea 'Koi,' S. yashadake 'Kimmei,' or Ph. vivax 'Aureocaulis,' etc.?

[Roy]

So does that mean you don't want to hear from those of us who can't reliably grow those species outdoors, or would you be open to hearing commercials for hardy runners like Robert Young, Castillon, Spectabilis, Ph. aurea 'Koi,' S. yashadake 'Kimmei,' or Ph. vivax 'Aureocaulis,' etc.?

Kudzu9,

Although the bamboos you mentioned have beautiful coloration, Ph. aurea 'Koi' being one of my favorites I've grown, a good number of the temperate bamboos don't do well in the hotter climates. The temperates that grow well in hotter climates are more vigorous and put out more linear rhizomes each year, which leads to a more that just a once a year mowing around the plants to keep the plant contained in the desired area.

There are a lot of tropical clumping bamboo that is yellow with green stripes. I would like to hear different viewpoints as to which is the best and why. I can grow just about any of them.

I am looking for the best based on experience with several varieties. I want to plant a very long row and want to get started with propagation.

I only have B. Vulgaris vittata, B. Ventricosa kimmei, B. Eutuldoides viridi vittata, Schizostachyum Brachycladum, and D. Minor amoenus.

Ideas????

Boonut,

If you are wanting to make a screen to block off a view, be an impenetrable barrier, be the most drought resistant of the group, then I would go with the B. t. v. Kimmei:

<img src="http://www.bambooweb.info/images/bamboo ... Kimmei.jpg" alt="BAMBUSA tuldoides 'Ventricosa Kimmei'">


The first year shoots of B. Vulgaris vittata would have the most outstanding brilliant color:

<img src="http://www.bambooweb.info/images/bamboo ... _culms.jpg" alt="BAMBUSA vulgaris 'Vittata'">


Schizostachyum Brachycladum: The images I see from tropical Australia seem to show much more colorful culms than the ones I see from S. Florida. Don't know that's just the images or if there is any real difference between the 2 areas. I know only a few who are growing it and the growth of it is limited to the extreme southern part of the lower 48.


Schizostachyum Brachycladum image from Australia:
<img src="http://www.bambooweb.info/images/bamboo ... cladum.jpg" alt="SCHIZOSTACHYUM brachycladum ">

D. Minor amoenus: Nice large leaves in a midsized Dendro... Very tropical looking for a plant with what seems to be some cold hardiness.
<img src="http://www.bambooweb.info/images/bamboo/D.m.Amoenus.jpg" alt="DENDROCALAMUS minor 'Amoenus'">



If you are not using the row, which you referred to, as a screen, then what's the possibility of planting a row of specimen plants of each type and leaving enough distance between each clump for each clump to maintain its visual identity?

[kudzu9]

Interesting observations, Roy. In your experience, do most of those cold hardy ones I mentioned just kind of sit there and not put out a lot of new growth, or are they even prone to dying off because they can't handle the heat?

[Mike McG]

Kudzu9,
I do not have all the varieties you mentioned but for me Ph.v. 'Robert Young' seems to handle the heat and sun OK, as does the generic Ph. vivax. I finally moved my Ph. b. 'Castellon' to a shaded location this spring. The top 3/4 of the most of the new culms were dead by the end of the summer. The remainder were totally dead. This plant had been in full sun. The couple of survival shoots that came up from the rhizomes after I moved that I have not dug yet are starting to look burned already. I do not know if it is heat, sun or alkalinity but it does not do well for me in full sun here in central TX.

Mike near Brenham TX

[boonut]

I have tried quite a few different types of runners. They usually sit there for several years getting smaller and smaller. This is the first year my Robert Young put up shoots larger than 3 foot. We have 98 degree daytime temps with 78 night time temps. I have tried everything in the book to grow runners and haven't been very successful. I am guessing too that the problem is temps. So... I am mainly focusing on clumpers.

I have lots of rows simply to make it easy to water. I have a nice row of B. T.V. kimmei. That one seems to do very well down here and is drought tolerant.

I don't have experience with Bambusa emeiensis Flavidorivens or Bambusa pervariabilis viridistriata. If you were going to focus and propagate quite a few for nothing other than growing a beautiful bamboo, which would it be? Sometimes a bamboo looks great when young, then 4-6 years later it has a different look altogether. That is the experience I wanted to find. I like the B.Eutuldoides viridi vittata, but the colors seem to degrade with age and it seems a little more susceptible to "bugs". But, you can sure propagate them in a hurry.

I want to have rows of black bamboo, rows of yellow with green stripes, and then rows with alternating colors surrounding my specimen gardens with the giants and other bamboo. I like to collect, but the average visitor may not be interested in 110 varieties of "green" bamboo with subtle differences.

More and more I am thinking about a botanical garden that also sells bamboo where you can get "clones" of what you see. This will make a good retirement project.

[Mark_NoVA]

Sorry that I'm not chiming in with a comparison, but I wanted to say how much I like vittata--I saw it several places when visiting San Diego 1.5 years ago. I went to a few places for the bamboo, and liked the vittata more than I expected. Wish I could grow it here! (Though no green stripes, Phyllostachys bambusoides 'Allgold' is my favorite here so far.)

[JakeK]

What about Dendrocalamus latiflorus 'Mei-Nung' ? I think that would be a nice candidate for what you are looking for.
Jake

[Bill Howard]

Bambusa multiplex stripped is a great one for me. It has green and yellow cane stripes with small fern like leaves.

[boonut]

Has anyone seen a row of clumping bamboo with alternating black and yellow bamboo?

I am leaning more and more to B. Lako as the black one. I have B. Lako, G. Atroviolacea, and D. Asper "betung hitam". I really like D. Latiflorus "mei nung", but almost all I have seen has the mosaic potex virus. I have been slowly eliminating any bamboo with the virus.

I want to produce something that landscapers and others will want to reproduce when they see it. I have about 15 B. Lako now and can produce at least 15 B. Eutuldoides viridi vittata by September when we get the most rain. I just don't want to rush this and use the wrong yellow one with green stripes.

Still looking for feedback on Bambusa emeiensis Flavidorivens or Bambusa pervariabilis viridistriata... especially after a few years of growth.

Thanks to everyone that has chimed in so far. I appreciate all your comments.

[boonut]

BTW, I have a Schizostachyum Brachycladum. I keep hearing that it can actually go down to 26 or so instead of the 40 degrees listed in a lot of place. Mine went down to 34 last year with no stress at all. We didn't get a freeze.

Any experience with S. Brachycladum? How bad does it look and how quickly does it rebound if it does get hit with a freeze?