TIMBER BAMBOO
Black Bamboo
Phyllostachys nigra
Height (ft.): 20-25
Diameter: 2.25 inches
Hardiness: 5° F
An awesome, beautiful, fast spreading bamboo. Black Bamboo has been going through worldwide gregarious flowering for a few years. Ours here at Handrex are showing no signs of flowering but we are reluctant to sell any because it could flower and die soon (all bamboo will eventually flower and die but it could be 100 years or more). If you really want some and are willing to roll the dice, we will sell it but without our standard plant health guarantee.
Chinese Timber Bamboo
Phyllostachys vivax
Avg Height (ft.): 40-50
Diameter: 3-5 inches
Hardiness: -5° F
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Phyllostachys vivax is a hardy timber bamboo that can reach 50 feet or more here in the PNW with canes to 4 inches. It seems to be the fastest grower to large size in the PNW.
Observing the shoots grow 1 to 2 feet a day is an amazing thing! The Latin definition for vivax is “long-lived, tenacious of life, lively, vigorous, energetic, high-spirited.” It certainly is!
P. vivax Aureocaulis
Like the above species, but with beautiful golden yellow culms with random green stripes, occasionally with culms more green than gold.
P. vivax 'Huangwenzhu Inversa'
This one may be even cooler than Aurocaulis with amazing alternating, checkerboard patterned green stripes. Nature never ceases to amaze.
Red Margin Bamboo
Phyllostachys Rubromarginata
Avg Height (ft.): 40+
Diameter: 2+ inches
Hardiness: -5°F
Red Margin Bamboo is a striking species of bamboo native to Central China. Well-regarded for its distinctive appearance and practical applications due to very strong and straight culms.
Incense Bamboo
Phyllostachys atrovaginata
Incense bamboo is a fast-growing, upright bamboo prized for its thick, glossy green canes and pleasant fragrance, especially noticeable when the stems are rubbed or cut. It’s highly cold-hardy one of the few bamboos that tolerates wet soils, and forms dense, vertical groves.
Water Bamboo
Phyllostachys heteroclada
Avg Height (ft.): 30
Diameter: 2 inches
Hardiness: -5 F
Water bamboo or fishscale bamboo, is a running bamboo species that can grow to 30+ feet tall and is cold hardy to about -5 °F. It thrives in moist, well-drained soils and features air canals in its rhizomes, allowing it to grow in wetter conditions than many other bamboo species.
