Noticed something odd on a bamboo I bought just a few weeks ago. “Oh no!” I thought, please don’t let it be what I think it is. Upon closer inspection it turns out that my new plant, one that has not yet made it into it’s bed — still in its burlap diaper, has one culms (of only two) is indeed flowering.

I noticed this when I was moving it, P. aureosulcata (“Spectabilis”), to a new location in the yard so that it could get more sun than it was getting. It wasn’t looking as healthy as when I first brought it home so I watered it and put it in a large fake-clay pot, to keep it up off the ground so that no shoots go shooting from underneath.

I have real mixed feelings of this. Why be upset about flowers on my bamboo? Answer: When bamboo flowers, it dies. Bamboo only flowers once every 65 to 120 years, depends on the species. Nobody knows why, or can predict the flowering. When one bamboo species flowers, all bamboos of that same species, everywhere in the world, will also flower within a period of years. So, this being a favorite of mine, very decorative with its green stripes on yellow culms, I will need to learn how to grow new ones as all three that I have now could just die off – part of nature.

Never having had yet a bamboo flower, and never seeing any bamboo flower with my own eyes, if this is the only plant that flowers and it dies, I will see what I can do with the seeds. While sad that this new plant may die off, what if I can grow new plants from the seeds. I searched online for news of others reporting of their Spectabilis flowering and there were posts last year, and back to 2007, so mine is not the first or the first year of the flowering of this species.

From the little reading I have done before writing this post, the seeds that fall from the flowers do not create new plants very easily. But I assume, like anything else, if I want new plants where the seeds fall- nothing will grow; I don’t want new plants- there, free to grow without any barrier, so I would probably get new ones. So I will harvest the seeds and then figure out the best way to see if I can grow new plants in pots. I also read that sometimes flowers will appear with no seeds, someone else wondered if it was stress that caused one to flower, and another claimed that this species has a tendency to bloom outside of the normal bamboo 65-120 year cycle, so time will tell.

A post from Germany about this species:

“We in Germany get the message of Phyllostachys aureosulcatata spectabilis flowering quite often. But it’s only 1 or 2 culm of each plant flowering, so don’t worry. As Markj said, it’s never been a full flowering phase that might affect the plant.”

A post in Yahoo! ‘bamboo plantations’ group:

“John, et al, To the best of my knowledge it never makes viable seed. No pollinaton occurs. This is often the case with bamboos cultivated in garden settings. If you want to talk to someone who likes to grow bamboo from seed, contact Ned Jaquith at Bamboo Garden near Portland OR ; www.bamboogarden.com”

So, mine is only one culm- not the whole plant. Whew! I may be in the clear. I am still going to remove the flowers and hope for the best. I am waiting for Jimmy to get home from work so he can see the flowers on the bamboo before I remove them.

BambooGarden.com: Flowering Bamboo Presents an Opportunity
http://www.bamboogarden.com/when%20bamboo%20flowers.htm

Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Spectabilis'

P. aureosulcata (‘Spectabilis’) quickly became my favorite bamboo- the stripes, sometimes in a barcode like design, seem painted onto a solid yellow bamboo, make this bamboo so pretty. This post, originally from June 2011 is being updated & moved to April 28, 2012 after a failure to correctly identify this bamboo. I’ll give myself a little slack given there are estimates of 1,000 to 1,600 different species of bamboo in the world.

Phyllostachys vivax 'Aureocaulis' ("Gold Vivax")

Ignoring the name correctly identifying the bamboo at Little Acre Farm, I went with what I was told elsewhere, grabbed a plant, brought it home, all the while convinced I was planting Vivax. Pictures of Vivax, like a photo we found in an article on Philly.com, showed the “bar code” type design on the nodes had me convinced that this bamboo which was growing well in Cherry Hill, NJ must be the same bamboo I had. Aside from the very impressive height Vivax can grow to, I am not at all saddened with the “Spectacular” Spectibilis which I have now.

Spectibilis grows 18′ to 25′ high, with a culm diameter of 1″ to 2″. So, smaller than Vivax (30′ to 65′ high / 2″ – 5″ diameter) but more cold hardy (Spectibilis -10°F vs. Vivax -5°F) which is good – especially for above ground containers / beds. If I can ever talk Jimmy into letting me remove all the Sassafras trees in the back left of our backyard, I will then entertain a Vivax bed. Until then, the smaller spectacular species I have will be just fine.

Sure I have had other bamboo favorites, and still do for other reasons. Yellow Groove was my favorite for it being my first to garden, Arrow bamboo for its very large leaf, Black for the contrast of the light green leaves against black culms–especially in the snow! Bambusoides became a favorite for the diameter the culms can grow to as well as the thick walls that can support it in high wind. The centerpiece bed for the Bambusoides was originally planned to hold Vivax, but that changed when I learned (update: incorrectly learned- Vivax is called Chinese Timber Bamboo!) that Vivax doesn’t have the strong walls and may have trouble in the wind, which is very strong at times in our backyard.