Description:

Pseudosasa japonica is a medium-sized bamboo that grows to a height of about 18’, with a culm diameter of .75 inches. It's cold hardy to -5 degrees, tolerates windy open sites well, and in western Washington, plants grow well in nearly full sun to nearly full shade. This is a running bamboo, but it has been slower to spread than other running bamboos in my garden.  Left to grow, it can be used as a thick, wild-looking hedge, or by pruning culms and branches, it can be transformed into a wonderful transparent screen, or a striking specimen plant.  It is also one of the better suited plants for growing in a pot, and the very large, (nearly a foot long) deep green leaves make it one of the best bamboos for creating tropical effects,  or for contrasting with smaller foliage plants.

Planting History:

I acquired a large field division of this bamboo from a vacant lot in winter of 1998, and planted it out in a sunny, open location, in poor soils.  Over winter and for the first growing season, it received no irrigation or fertilizer, but still managed to send up several small shoots.  With water and fertilizer it has steadily increased in size and spread, but is more compact and stout than plantings of the same maturity I have seen growing in shade. 

I have taken numerous propagations from the perimeter of the plant to contain it, and performed periodic thinning of the dense culms to open for light.  In November 2004, I reduced the size of the planting by about half, taking several large field divisions from the perimeter, and bermed up the remainder of the plant to make it easier to control the growth of rhizomes.

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