Description:

Phyllostachys nigra, ever popular for its exotic, black culms and graceful presence in the garden, is a wonderful ornamental bamboo.  This bamboo is quite variable in color, size and habit, and there is some bit of controversy over which differences are genetic, and which are environmentally induced.  Some forms color up faster, (new shoots emerge green, then turn black as they mature) more completely and darker than others, and mature sizes range from 10’ to 50’, with a maximum culm diameter of over 2”.   The strain of black bamboo I grow colors up quickly in part shade, and grows to a height of about 20 feet with a culm diameter of about 1 inch.  It will do best in moist, organic, slightly acid soils in part to full sun, and is cold hardy to 0 degrees F.  Black bamboo makes a great specimen plant, a screen, water feature accent, and is one of the better suited Phllostachys for containers – best enjoyed where it is sited for close viewing of the black culms.

Planting History:

I acquired several large (2’ root ball with .75” culms) field divisions of this bamboo from a private garden in March 2000, and planted them out a shady area adjacent to a wooded greenbelt.  The plants have been slow to recover, sending up tiny shoots the first season, but have slowly regained some size, in addition to yielding many nice propagations.  The most recent and largest culms have been more upright and less flopping than earlier, smaller shoots. 

Stress in the form of competition for light, water or nutrients have a definite, dwarfing effect on this bamboo.  In shaded areas, or containers, it is a very manageable garden plant, yet I have seen it running rampant in moist, rich soil with a full sun exposure.  I have also noticed that the black coloring is the finest on interior, shaded portions of a planting; exterior culms, and the tips of interior culms are mostly speckled or blotched.