Bamboo Flowerings

Over my forty years or so of having bamboos in the garden there have been quite a few flowerings. Some have resulted in the death of the plants a few of considerable size.

Some have produced viable seed, others haven’t, or at least I haven’t found any. Most plants have not recovered, but Yushania anceps was a notable exception.

Until recently, it was an occasional bamboo species flowering,  Fargesia murielii, Yushania anceps, Himilayacalamus falconeri,

Pleiblastus gramineus and simonsii ‘Variegata’,  and Fargesia nitida. These were spread out over the years, but recently there has been several flowering. There has been the Phyllostachys kwangsiensis I posted on earlier, but I have three others currently, Thanocalamus spathiflorus, Phyllostachys praecox ‘Viridisulcata’ and most significantly,  our very large Chusquea couleau ‘Wisley’s Tall Form’. The loss of this will be a significant one. Hopefully someone will keep Phyllostachys praecox ‘Viridisulcata’ going for the keen collectors.I guess the more different species and varieties in a collection the more often flowering will occur.