I’ve spent the last 15 years growing bamboo — commercially and on my own 3-acre property in the Pacific Northwest. I currently cultivate 14 species, sell poles and plants to landscapers and homeowners, and probably spend 30 to 40 days…
Key Takeaways Bamboo drought tolerance depends heavily on maturity — established plants (3+ years) can survive moderate dry periods, but new plantings require consistent moisture.Tropical clumping species such as Bambusa oldhamii and Bambusa textilis are more drought tolerant than temperate…
Running bamboo spreads aggressively through underground rhizomes and can overtake a yard — or a neighbor’s yard — within a few seasons. Clumping bamboo stays where you plant it, expanding slowly outward from a central base. That single difference shapes every decision you’ll make about which type belongs in your landscape. What Actually Makes Bamboo … Read more
The short answer: yes, you can grow bamboo in Utah — but success depends heavily on choosing the right species and giving the plant consistent water in one of the driest states in the US. Utah presents a genuinely challenging combination for bamboo: cold winters (especially in the north), hot and intensely sunny summers, low … Read more
I once spent an entire Saturday smugly planting what I was convinced was black bamboo along my back fence — only to watch it slowly, mockingly, turn a warm shade of golden yellow over the following weeks. Turns out, the debate between golden bamboo vs black bamboo is a lot more important than I gave … Read more
The third plant was the one that almost broke me. I’d spent close to $200 on bamboo over two years, watched two clumping varieties turn to mush over winter, argued with my husband about whether I was “just throwing money into a hole,” and then stood in my backyard on a cold March morning staring … Read more