Houttuynia cordata ‘Chameleon’

Houttuynia cordata ‘Chameleon’

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Flowering Chameleon plant
Flowering Chameleon plant
Striking colors of Houttuynia cordata ‘Chameleon’
Striking colors of Houttuynia cordata ‘Chameleon’

Houttuynia cordata should come with a warning, according to many gardeners that allowed it to grow freely around the garden. It produces underground rhizomes that “travel” into all directions, creating dense groundcover. In time it can loose it’s colorful variegation and turn back into less attractive mostly green variety.

Very aggressive photo. Literally!
Very aggressive photo. Literally!

The plant just loves water. It thrives in moist or even wet soil, with roots occasionally submerged in water. It’s a bit slower in dry conditions, but it tolerates drought as well. Its colors look best in full sun, but it doesn’t mind growing in complete shade as well.

The plant have very strong smell that resembles smell of fish. Plants are edible and were used as herbs in Chinese medicine.

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Bambusa ventricosa

Bambusa ventricosa

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Not so cold hardy addition – Buddha’s Belly

Branches are showing some swelling and zig-zag growth.
Branches are showing some swelling and zigzag growth.
Basic information:
Height: up to 15 m
Culm diameter: 5 cm
Hardiness: -6 °C
Characteristics: cold sensitive, vigorous, clumping bamboo,
forms swollen internodes when kept in containers or in dry
conditions

Bambusa ventricosa is one of the bamboos that can easily be grown inside. It can handle low light levels better than most, doesn’t need dormancy, tolerates drought and can even forgive a bit of overwatering. The first time I bought the bamboo from a Chinese vendor, it arrived completely dry after more than a month. Since I never received a replacement – or at least a reply when I contacted him, I picked another seller and ordered B. ventricosa again. This time, it arrived with a couple of buds already elongated, despite the fact that it got completely dried out during transport. I planted it, and hoped that there are at least some roots that survived. Because it’s roots looked dry, I buried the lower branch buds that were already actively growing into the soil. Even if the roots were damaged, that way, I could promote root growth formation.

It started growing without any issues and I in fact noticed root growth under soil level, as I hoped and expected. When branches leafed out, first shoot emerged too, which proved that the plant wasn’t damaged during transport at all and it managed to put out quite large shoot.

Despite trying my best, Buddha’s Belly hardly showed any bulging. It did grow a zig-zag culm, but there was no or only minimal swelling of internodes. Bamboo tolerates full sun well, so I left it outside until early fall, when it got colder. When I moved it inside, it started to look ratty. Leaves got damaged and there was almost no leaf left without brown dried-out tip. New leaves were normal, and appeared even darker green in the end of the winter, but when I placed it outside in the spring again, bamboo started to decline once again. Leaves and even shoots started to show the same kind of damage as when I took it in for the winter. In a couple of weeks, it accepted it’s new location and looked perfectly happy again, but with a lot of brown leaves that were again soon replaced with hundreds of new small branches and fresh set of leaves. Even the damaged-looking shoots continued their growth and seemed perfectly happy – yet without any swelling.

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Phyllostachys aureosulcata ‘Spectabilis’

Phyllostachys aureosulcata ‘Spectabilis’

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Basic information:
Height: 10 m
Culm diameter: 5 cm
Hardiness: -24 °C
Characteristics: very cold hardy, vigorous, running bamboo,
culms are bright yellow with green sulcus
young culms turn red when exposed to sun
they frequently genuflect, making zig-zag pattern at the base of the culm
some of the leaves have white stripe

It’s one of most cold-hardy bamboos that grows to decent size and can be extremely vigorous, especially in warmer climates.

Genuflection on Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Spectabilis'
Genuflection on Phyllostachys aureosulcata ‘Spectabilis’
Sun exposed young culms become red
Sun exposed culms become red.

On lower internodes genuflection is not rare
On lower internodes genuflection is not rare

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
When I bought a one culm division with almost no roots and without rhizome buds that would look alive, I doubted it would start growing. It took quite some time for it to push out two tiny survival shoots. At that point, I knew it’s not just a living bamboo stick and I’ll end up with a living, spreading Spectabilis.
Since then, it not only recovered, but managed to surpass any expectations every spring. Each spring new shoots appear larger and taller, except the after the last season that was abnormally wet. Spring after exceptionally wet year brought only minimal diameter upsize, but the number of shoots was incredible and the shoots managed to rise up taller than year before.

Genuflection
Genuflection

3 years old bamboo
3 years old bamboo
Phyllostachys aureosulcata ‘Spectabilis’ shoots in mid to late April and usually doesn’t regrow it’s winter damaged leaves until it’s almost done shooting. By pruning lower branches, it gets much more upright appearance, not to mention the look of exposed colorful culms. If it decides to put out additional survival shoots, it’s best to cut them off, before they can use any resources to grow.
It can be hard to keep the beast confined. During the summer, fall and sometimes even in early winter, bamboos invest all their energy into rhizome growth. Rhizomes can search for better growth conditions, so they usually travel towards east, south or west, and will colonize well mulched and fertilized soil rather than migrate into hard clay or sand. By knowing how it spreads, it gets easier to maintain, spot and remove the escaping runners.
 
 

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Phyllostachys aurea

Phyllostachys aurea

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Phyllostachys aurea
Phyllostachys aurea
Basic information:
Height: 4 to 8 m
Culm diameter: 3 cm
Hardiness: -18 °C
Characteristics: cold hardy, vigorous, running bamboo,
they frequently have compressed internodes at the base

Phyllostachys aurea is also called golden bamboo due to it’s golden yellow culm or fishpole bamboo, because of its use as a,… you guessed right, fishing pole. It’s medium tall running bamboo that grows in temperate climate. It can be slightly less hardy than the hardiest Phyllostachys bamboos like Phyllostachys nuda, Phyllostachys aureosulcata (whole family of bamboos :)) or Phyllostachys bissetii, but it can bounce back even when it gets completely scorched during the winter. It can be extremely aggressive in warmer climates and can spread vigorously. Like with all running bamboos, you have to be careful to confine it (and)or regularly check and remove possible escaping runners. It has strong culms that can be used in various DIY projects.

Compressed internodes are typical for Phyllostachys aurea
Compressed internodes are typical for Phyllostachys aurea
Specific characteristic of Phyllostachys aurea are distorted internodes at the base of the culm which start appearing after bamboo reaches maturity with decent cane diameter.

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