Growing Bamboo: Tips at a Glance
Bamboo is a woody grass useful as a hedge, windbreak, or privacy screen. Make a plan to contain it before you plant it (and choose clumping varieties).
- Type Woody grass
- Lifespan Perennial
- USDA Zones 4-9
- Light Sun or some shade
- Water Well-drained soil
- What to Plant Clumping species
- Design Tip Rein it in
- Other Uses Better behaved in pots
- Peak Season Evergreen
Bamboo: A Field Guide
Bamboo is a woody grass that can be a useful hedge, windbreak, or privacy screen. But because of its invasive tendencies, you’ll need a plan to contain it before you plant it.
Some bamboos are more trouble than others. Running bamboos can be thugs; they are the invasive ones that spread underground quickly and pop up from the earth several feet away from where you were expecting them. It’s best to plant running bamboos such as Phyllostachys in a contained bed, and possibly under armed guard.
Friendlier are clumping bamboos (such as the Fargesia bamboos), which spread more decorously and in a way that brings to mind other clumping members of the grasses family.
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