Fargesia apicirubens in Nova Scotia

[johnw]

In 1990 the Bamboo Newsletter of Canada offered seedlings of F. apicirubens, then F. dracocephala ex Dabashan #2. The seed came from China via Germany - Max Riedelsheimer near Munich I presume was the intermediary. The seedlings were grown for locals by Robert Corbett. I wrote to the Newsletter and got a reply back from Mike Curtis who kindly agree to get me some seedlings, he brought the seedlings to a friend's in Vancouver and I picked them up a few days later as I was out there on business.

These F. apicirubens have been extremely slow-growing for a Fargesia species - they are now 22 years old. For comparison our local Wilson murielaes flowered between 1998 and 2000 and the seedlings were almost as tall as the dead mother within 5-6 years - an amazing variety of habits in those murielae seedlings I might add. We grew and distributed 1000 or more seedlings of murielae. So you can see the growth of apicirubens has been very deliberate - downright slow. Winter leaf retention - moderate to heavy.

Photo #1 Seedling #1 one growing in southern N.S. where it is milder. Southern exposure, Zone 7a/b. Date is April 2012, planted from a one gallon about 2003. The soil was amended when that house was built, otherwise no special treatment. This the best looking one, stiffly upright like robusta and you can almost see the density of the canes. Circa 2.5 m high. Seems fully hardy in Z7a/b. It has never shown any damage whatsoever. Winter leaf retention - moderate.


Photo #2 Seedling #3 growing in native soil in woodland near Yarmouth Z7a/b, no soil amending. Souterhn exposure, site very windy. Date is April 2012 but planted from a one gallon about 2003. It has been very slow but I'm sure it will catch up to the others in time. No babying for this one, planted it and walked away. You see a bit of yellowing in the leaves, something common in our native soils that happens over late autumn and winter and clears up in early spring. Nitrogen depletion perhaps as soil is very acid and quite infertile. No damage observed. Winter leaf retention - heavy.

Photo#2 of seedling #2 growing in Halifax, Zone 6a. It was planted outside in about 1998.
It could not take full sun in winter here (or was it the the roots of a greedy maple on the other side of the fence?) and it froze back several times and never increased in size at all until it was moved to a north-facing bed that gets afternoon sun during the growing season, as much sun as we get in this foggy climate. Certainly not as vigorous as the Yarmouth plant above but almost as tall now. The recent spate of mild winters may be attributable so the jury is out on its hardiness in Z6, I suspect borderline if usual winters return. Photo April 2012Date is April 2012 but planted from a one gallon about 1997/9. Winter leaf retention - light but not severe in mild winters.

At this stage it appears that the 3 seedlings look a bit different from one another. Time will tell.

I would love to hear of others' experience with this species especially in cold climates.

[moriphen]

I have a Fargesia apicirubens 'white dragon', super duper slow is the name of the game here. 3 gallon from Bamboo Garden planted in 2009, that had to be moved this past week away from my other plants simply because it was getting crowded out. I personally can't recommend this bamboo to anyone because a Japanese fern out grew it this past year. Its now about 3 feet tall and culms are very close together.

[johnw]

Moriphen - I can well imagine White Dragon would be much slower than the type. That apicirubens in the last photo was 1 foot tall for so long we thought it would surely die in time. Not so. Be patient you may well wind up with a beauty. I didn't bother with White Dragon as I assumed the white parts would burn off in our wind. I was offered it about a year after it was found out west but declined, should never decline as there's always something to be learned.

[wufeng]

thanks johnw for this thread. Very interesting for me.

I have F. apicirubens for 5 years and it is very slow grower and not much hardy Fargesia in my lokalities. I have tried this bamboo in cold garden (with winters -25°C) where only F. nitida, murieliae and rufa can survive winters without top kill. F. jiuzhaigou are often topkilled, only Willumeit clones 5,6 and 10 can partially survive. F. apicirubens every year was topkilled.

In my second garden in warmer locality can survive but grow very slowly. This year i had -23°C and apicirubens was partially damaged, a few stems survived.

This seedlling i have is not nice bamboo for me. My friend have division from another seedling from Holland with similar hardinnes. But plant is strong, well growing, nice in shape, so i hope i will got division in next years from this plant.

[moriphen]

I should add that in my climate F. apicirubens 'White dragon' is one of my early shooters often beating out F. sp 'Rufa', which means i often find it shooting in February which is quite surprising for such a slow growing bamboo.

[johnw]

Today I noticed new shoots of F. apicirubens responding to 22c.

I have never noticed how showy the new shoots are. Surely I would have noticed them and I wonder if they are almost mature.

I can find no shots of the details of apicirubens' shoots, sheaths etc. online.... and wonder if these conform to the description.

[johnw]

And two more shots of the same apicirubens shoots.

The jet black blades are not clearly shown in the photos but are startlingly showy.

[johnw]

Ripening culm sheath on the southwestern Nova Scotia F. apicirubens yesterday. Close to 9 feet tall.

johnw

[tncry]

Johnw
Apicirubens looks great!
I made the trip from Moncton to the Valley today and picked up one of your nitida plants in Middleton. I also picked up P bissetii, Pleioblastus fortunei, P aurea and an unknown clumper called "narrow leaved bamboo" at Briar Patch. Nothing like a mystery bamboo to add to the collection. It does look like nitida though.
I'm going to try these plants at my new house in Moncton on a 2 acre lot with mature white pine overhead. There is very little wind, so I hope it creates a decent microclimate for the bissetii.

[johnw]

tncry - I assume you got the nitida at Den Haan's. I was there today on my way back from Yarmouth an was surprised they loked so good in that warm greenhouse though the sides are open. They also had some nice 3 gallon Rufas for $29. Thexton's in Annapolis Royal had the best looking nitidas, they've done a fine job growing them on.

I missed the bissetiis at Briar Patch, I would like to have compared it with the one growing here with almost black canes at the moment. I wonder if that Thamnocalmus I got there is what you got as "narrow leaf". Does look like a twiggy nitida.

I spent yesterday spreading well-rotted sheep manure under the bamboos near Yarmouth. What a slog that was in the sun, mosquito hell. The Sasa plamata is up to 6 feet tall now planted on a raised patch in the woods. I thought it was curious it was not spreading and then noticed scads of runners coming down the slopes and disappearing underground so there is apt to be an eruption next year. The seedling nitidas planted from 5 inch pots last year there are up to 5ft tall already.

I was in St. John's, NL Tuesday and one nursery was selling Sasa pygmea in 6" pots which I gave the fellow years ago. He says it says under 4" tall there and usually stays green all winter. I was happy to see it labelled as "extremely aggressive". Fargesias do well in that area but I suspect Phyllos would be impossible. The Trachycarpus fortunei & T. wagernerianus on the rooftop garden in the downtown area finally gave up the ghost.

BTW - Sobey's should have their Rufas on half price soon - i.e. $11.

Good luck with the new garden.

[needmore]

Johnw
Apicirubens looks great!
I made the trip from Moncton to the Valley today and picked up one of your nitida plants in Middleton. I also picked up P bissetii, Pleioblastus fortunei, P aurea and an unknown clumper called "narrow leaved bamboo" at Briar Patch. Nothing like a mystery bamboo to add to the collection. It does look like nitida though.
I'm going to try these plants at my new house in Moncton on a 2 acre lot with mature white pine overhead. There is very little wind, so I hope it creates a decent microclimate for the bissetii.

You might want to save that microclimate for the aurea instead

[johnw]

Brad's right. Back in the 70's I tried P. aurea several times, ones I dug in Richmond, Virginia. No winter protection they had to do it on their own and I never had one survive above ground through one winter. As I recall none ever survived below ground for more than two years. It seemed to miss the heat of Richmond. Even in Va. it got a toasting one year in the late 70's when the James River froze over.

Reading Mike Bell's book last night he seems to think their is a correlation between early shooting and northerly provenance. As you know the provenance of Phyllostachys spp. is unknown as they have been moved around by humans since ancient times. Would forumists agree with Bell's assumption? Can anyone provide a list of the timing of shooting for the various species?

Five more new shoots on Borinda yulongshanenis since Sunday night.

BTW I sign in, compose a letter, try to submit it but it tells me to sign in again???????

johnw - Hfx., NS where it is 27c and with 64% humidity feeling like 34c. In this heat I'm ready to expire.....

[needmore]

I'll trade you weather, right now it is 36C with 34% humidity, headed to about 40C with rising humidity - several days in a row now and the same in the extended forecast...and several weeks now with no rain. I am starting to see some of this years new culms show signs of death due to drought/heat. The past 4 summers we've been having very Texas-like weather (I feel your pain TX) and I may have to accept the change and let stuff die off if it can't hold up w/o my intervention. A real noticeable change now over several consecutive summers, it drys up here in JUne (May this year) and does not seem to rain until October.

A battle to keep the Fargesia looking good...

[johnw]

Brad - You're welcome to visit to beat the heat but no trading weather. Springs here while never hot are getting drier over the last 10 years. June & Jukly are typically dry month here but the stats will tell you normal for these months. May and June were particularly dry as was the winter as well. Luckily this year we have had good heavy rains just in the nick of time.

johnw - now 28c

[moriphen]

I feel like the "red headed step child", 35º C with 58% humidity. Oh and it actually rained twice yesterday, I have mold everywhere.