The blue bamboo thamnocalamus crassinodus Kew Beauty in the glade at Keyingham
Bamboos
Hardy bamboos are our main concern. Over sixty kinds grow in the glade, their heights varying from a less than a metre to six metres or more. Some are allowed to spread to form a dense hedge or screen; others can be left to form a neat and elegant clump.
Bamboos flower and set seed so rarely, that until very recently propagation has usually meant the division of existing plants, a very slow process in the case of the more desirable species.
However, as in most plant families, there are some individual members with a rampant habit, spreading like weeds and providing abundant material for splitting - and passing on to unsuspecting friends! Because of the high cost of bamboos, such gifts are received initially with open arms, adding eventually to the widespread perception of bamboo as a plant too dangerous to let loose in the garden.
HAVE NO FEAR. There are a multitude of well-behaved, breathtakingly beautiful plants to choose from, large and small, waiting to bring a touch of magic to your garden. Come to the glade and see how they grow.
The bamboos we have for sale at present can be found on the sales page.
Below is a full list of the bamboos to be found in the glade.
- Bashania fargesii
- Bashania qingchengshanensis
- Borinda albocerea Yunnan2
- Borinda albocerea Yunnan3
- Borinda edulis Yunnan4
- Borinda frigida(red sheath)
- Borinda frigida(yellow sheath)
- Borinda perlonga Yunnan6
- Borinda scabrida
- Borinda sp. KR6236
- Borinda sp. KR6438 Pasum Tso
- Borinda sp. KR6440
- Chimonobambusa quadrangularis
- Chimonobambusa tumidissinoda
- Chusquea culeou
- Chusquea gigantea
- Chusquea valdiviensis
- Drepanostachyum falcatum
- Drepanostachyum microphyllum
- Fargesia angustissima
- Fargesia denudata
- Fargesia dracocephala
- Fargesia murielae
- Fargesia murielae 'Bimbo'
- Fargesia murielae 'Joy'
- Fargesia murielae 'Jumbo'
- Fargesia murielae 'Simba'
- Fargesia nitida
- Fargesia nitida 'Jiuzhaigou'
- Fargesia nitida 'Jiuzhaigou2 La Ferrere'
- Fargesia rufa
- Fargesia robusta
- Fargesia robusta 'Pingwu'
- Fargesia rufa
- Fargesia utilis
- Himalayacalamus asper
- Himalayacalamus falconeri 'Damarapa'
- Himalayacalamus hookerianus
- Indocalamus tessellatus
- Phyllostachys arcana 'Luteosulcata'
- Phyllostachys aurea
- Phyllostachys aurea 'Variegata'
- Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Alata'
- Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Aureocaulis'
- Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Spectabilis'
- Phyllostachys bambusoides
- Phyllostachys bambusoides 'Castillonis'
- Phyllostachys bambusoides 'Castellonis inversa'
- Phyllostachys bambusoides 'Holochrysa'
- Phyllostachys bissettii
- Phyllostachys decora
- Phyllostachys dulcis
- Phyllostachys edulis
- Phyllostachys flexuosa
- Phyllostachys glauca
- Phyllostachys humilis
- Phyllostachys nigra
- Phyllostachys nigra 'Boryana'
- Phyllostachys nigra 'Henonis'
- Phyllostachys nigra 'Tosaensis'
- Phyllostachys nuda
- Phyllostachys praecox f. viridisulcata
- Phyllostachys rubromarginata
- Phyllostachys vivax
- Phyllostachys vivax 'Aureocaulis'
- Phyllostachys vivax 'Huanwenzhou'
- Pseudosasa japonica
- Pseudosasa japonica 'Akebonosuji'
- Pleioblastus pygmaeus
- Pleioblastus variegata
- Pleioblastus shibuyanus 'Tsuboi'
- Sasa palmata f. nebulosa
- Sasaella masamuniana
- Semiarundinaria fastuosa
- Semiarundinaria fastuosa 'Viridis'
- Semiarundinaria kagamiana
- Semiarundinaria okuboi
- Semiarundinaria yashadake 'Kimmei'
- Thamnocalamus crassinodus 'Gosundkind'
- Thamnocalamus crassinodus 'Kew Beauty'
- Thamnocalamus crassinodus 'Langtang'
- Thamnocalamus crassinodus 'Merlyn'
- Thamnocalamus spathiflorus
- Yushania anceps 'Pitt White'
- Yushania anceps 'Pitt White' rejuvenated
- Yushania maculata
- Yushania maling
- xHibanobambusa tranquillans 'Shiroshima'
Bashania
Chinese mountain bamboos, wind resisistant and hardy, with culms 4 metres or more tall, and large tough leaves. A good windbreak, but a vigorous runner, so needs careful placing.
Borinda
A group of newly available and exciting bamboos, mostly from Tibet and Western China, similar to fargesias in many respects, and equally suited to conditions in the UK. Clumping, often with a white or bluish bloom on the new culms. Very ornamental, very hardy, highly desirable.
Chusquea
These are South American bamboos with solid culms and multiple branches. The two we grow, from cloudy temperate regions of the Andes, are very well suited to the comparatively even temperatures of the British Isles.
Chusquea culeou is an impressive, neatly clumping bottle brush bamboo, which can grow eventually to 5 metres or more.
Chusquea gigantea is perhaps the most sought after bamboo of recent years, the rare examples of it that were available selling for hundreds of pounds. Propagation has increased stocks sufficiently to make it more accessible, but it is still our most expensive plant. Specimens in Britain are already over 40 feet tall.
Fargesia
This is perhaps the most useful genus for British gardens, and the most interesting, with many more as yet unseen members of the group still to reach our shores.
Fargesias come from the uplands of central China, and are some of the most cold hardy bamboos. Also, along with thamnocalamus, they are the only temperate bamboos that can be guaranteed to form a neat clump without spreading. Some species, such as fargesia murielae, fargesia rufa and fargesia nitida, happily survive temperatures down to -29C in Canada and Scandinavia.
Generally the plants are bushy, with plentiful culms (stems), bearing masses of small leaves.
Fargesia murielae flowered and set seed worldwide at the turn of the century, and the resultant seedlings have provided some attractive selected forms chosen for height or shape, such as "Bimbo" (short), 'Simba', and 'Jumbo' (tall).
Fargesia nitida is another that has seeded in recent times. A shade lover, its blue-grey culms turn deep purple if not in deep shade. Selected cultivars include Jiuzhaigou 1 and Jiuzhaigou 2, named from the park in Sichuan where they were collected.
Phyllostachys
This is the most important genus of bamboo, both commercially and as a garden ornamental. There are a wide range of hardy species that thrive in our climate. Although having a rootstock that spreads vigorously in their native habitat, in our colder conditions they generally form very tall, stately, well-behaved clumps.
Phyllostachys nigra, is the most popular of all bamboos, due to its seductive shiny black culms. Slow to increase, but eventually imposing.
Phyllostachys bambusoides 'Holochrysa' has completely golden stems.
Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Spectabilis' is ravishingly beautiful, with yellow culms and contrasting green grooves.
Phyllostachys bissetii is a tall, leafy, totally green bamboo.
