Chusquea gigantea

Chusquea gigantea

This beautiful species of bamboo is from S.America. Seen here growing in the bamboo collection at 'The English Country Garden', which we designed and built in Berkshire, England. See our portfolio section for a full description of this project. Although it is technically a clump forming bamboo it needs plenty of rrom to grow especially as it is deep rooted species, making it unsuitable for small gardens. In this 5 acre property it has room to spread and is grown in a cultivated bed of soil about 4m sq, surrounded by rough meadow grasses and poor soil. In these conditions it has spread much more slowly than if growing in a large area of cultivated, rich soil with plenty of water. You can buy this spectacular bamboo and many other rare and unusal species at  PW Plants in Norfolk, UK. Visit their website hardybamboo.com from our links page to buy or for more information.The clump seen here was planted as three 18" long pieces of root or Rhizome in 2001, the photo on the right was taken in 2005 and shows the red/pink colouration of shoots as they first emerge, the photo on the left was taken in 2008. The culms grow to about 8 or 10m tall and quickly develop a yellow/green colour with darker green around their nodes - from where the side branches emerge. This gives them an attractive striped look which can be shown off by removing the lower branches to show off the thickest sections of the culms beneath a crown of foliage starting at about head height, as has been done to this clump.

Shoots