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We were out to the coast yesterday and took some shots of the Fargesia spp.

First are two F. nitida we grew from seed after the 2010 flowering. They have been slow to bulk up but they receive no irrigation and weathered the record-breaking drought of 2016 and the dry summer - mainly July - of 2017, the soil is still rather dry down 10-15cm.
Second Fargesia dracocephala 'Rufa' to the left has now reached 2.6m in a rather open spot; to its right is a new generation F. murielae which is taking its good old time, from 1999 seed.
Third Fargesia murielae NG from 1999 and the best of the lot. Now 3+m high.
Lastly 2 photos of Fargesia sp. 'Scabrida' after 5 years from a very small plant ex a 4L pot. As you can see it's growing in a very challenging spot, rocky and somewhat dry. If its hardiness continues this is going to be a fantastic addition to the garden as it's already in excess of 3m tall.
13c, 96% humidity

Great results with no irrigation. Great to see the off spring of seed grown plants too.

I’m surprised how dry your soil is. It’s like a tropical rain storm here minus the tropics. Super wet and they are currently setting up the plastic water filled barrier for the local river here. Parking lots and some roadways are flooded... now back to Bamboo haha

It’s interesting to see that Bamboo can survive with so little water through the summer months. Scabrida is definitely one of my favorites. I’ve planted it on a west wall almost full sun. Next to it is robusta and they both do great.

How are the culm colors on your seedlings shown ? Seems like lately I’m a sucker for culm color, blues yellows, reds ( last email phew) .

So many boos and so little space!

V-I

The Fargesias only tolerate the dryness as nights on the coast are always cool - +15c or lower and foggy, I guess the high humidity helps immeasurably. We are usually not this dry but recovering from the extreme drought of 2016, a good 10" of rain would fix that.

Some colours appeared in the seedlings, some really good blues in the murielae and one good yellow and a red. In the nitidas some good blacks and a few reds but none as good as Jürgen's Jiu #8 or windborne's brilliant Jiu #1 & 'Genf'.

No great colour on Scabrida as the sun doesn't hit the lower half due to a big nasty rhodo that needs some serious slashing.

john
13c & sunny, heavy rain tonight.

All of my recent generation nitidas are showing some red in the culms now.

d-p - From which cultivar's seed did the reds come out of? The nitida reds I have are more of a purple red.

1 - typical of my nitida reds 2 - murielae red sheaths 3 - one of the better blue murielae john

They are more purple than red, like yours. They look red in the sun, and now looking at them in the shade, they are much darker, blackish at a glance. Still on my back porch in pots, I'm afraid.

They are seedlings of the Anceps and Mclure, and from a no name nitida from local nursery clearance that bloomed a couple years earlier than the other two. That ones parent looked like all the other nitidas, but more upright than the more weeping forms of anceps or McClure.

I'll get a picture when they are in the sun again.

John,

A small nitida division I acquired earlier this year is red buried beneath thick wax that shows through after a rain. ('Gansu 2' lineage)

Wondering how long before wax disintegrates or erodes on nitidas as I don't notice that much wax on yours?


red showing through moist culm and still heavy wax after branching out wet pic shot a couple weeks prior to dry

dependable wrote:They are more purple than red, like yours. They look red in the sun, and now looking at them in the shade, they are much darker, blackish at a glance. Still on my back porch in pots, I'm afraid.

d-p

I'm very glad to hear that as my McClure & Anceps seedlings are still in pots as well. They'll get upsized next spring or so I've promised myself.....

Have to agree I think my purple reds are on the road to becoming blacks in time.

john

wind-borne

That pinky red Gansu #2 division is sensational.

john

An update on Fargesia sp. 'Scabrida' in full sun on the NS coast. Planted in autumn 2013 as a very weak small culmed 1 gallon it has surprised everyone with its hardiness, red culm sheaths and graceful habit. Hard to photograph as it's planted about 1m deep in a gully that is now imopossible for me to get into. It's the largest Fargesia in the province aside from F. robusta 'Campbell' in our southernmost banana belt. Now a hefty 5+m in height, it seems to be the quintessential Chinese bamboo.

johnw