Growing a Bamboo Garden

Clumping and Running Bamboo

Bamboo is a member of the grass family, with more than 200 species available in the U.S. and 1,300 worldwide. Its leaves can range from over 55 inches long to merely a few inches in length. Its culms, or trunks, can be black, green with yellow stripes, or yellow with green stripes, and vary from the size of a thin wire to about 14 inches in diameter.

At its most basic level, bamboo divides itself into two categories: clumpers and runners. The underground root structure, rhizome, determines its classification. Some plants are even a mixture of the two. A clumper’s rhizome typically runs a short distance before sending up new culms. The distance it travels is determined by its genus. Clumping bamboos are usually tropical plants that don’t like temperatures dipping into the 40s. Unlike clumpers, runners are temperate plants whose rhizomes “run” far and wide. Running bamboo can send root offshoots some distance before sending up a culm, which is why they are sometimes called invasive or hard to manage.

Bamboo Requires Research

Bamboo’s shortcomings are usually the fault of the gardener, says Adam Turtle, a bamboo consultant who operates Earth Advocates Research Farm in Summertown, TN, a wholesale nursery specializing in landscape-grade bamboos. Those who plan to add bamboo to their landscape or garden should become informed before they purchase and plant to avoid unwanted consequences.

Bamboo is not for the lazy, the beginner gardener, or anyone who doesn’t wish to do homework, says Turtle. He suggests that gardeners considering bamboo for their yards consult the American Bamboo Society for information. Bamboo varieties range in size from groundcover to soaring plants several stories high. Even more confusing, what might work in the north-central U.S. would not be happy in the southeast, says Ted Meredith, a bamboo enthusiast and author of Bamboo for Gardens by Timber Press.

Gardeners must be prepared to cultivate and maintain their bamboo. Problems arise when the home gardener does not understand the variety he or she has planted. Bamboo with deeper-growing rhizomes or high maintenance requirements may have runners that spread and become difficult to control or eliminate.