Hardy Tropicals UK

I have several bamboos including various phyllostachys, fargesias, pseudosasa japonica, indocalmus and chusquea, and they are all getting a beating with this wind. Just as they put up new culms, they get broken or bent double. Even the ones sold as windbreak seem to get clobbered. I'm really getting ........... off with my garden right now. My nanas aren't moving, my big Trachycarpus is sulking, 11 cordies reduced to just above ground level and number 12 waiting to be "doctored" - borrowloads and barrowloads of dead phormium leaves are clogging up my compost heap but I ain't giving up yet!

Does anyone have any ideas of what bamboo is windproof please?

huporhaha wrote:Does anyone have any ideas of what bamboo is windproof please?

Sasa kurilensis

I have plenty of that in my garden,,,,,,anyone can dig it out if they want some (Save's me)

Sasa kurilensis..........

I'm a fussy so-and-so.................I want something tall and tropical looking. Sasa is like the animals and pets around here, running everywhere and short - all the local cats seem to have short legs - even the farm animals are short and low slung so they don't get blown out of their fields.

Not sure how feasible it would be in your location. Or even how expensive. Or even if you could be bothered doing it but....

In the local country park they built some children's play areas about 35 years ago, just a load of 18" diameter logs driven into the ground at different heights so kids could 'climb trees' without actually climbing trees.

There is one area that has a massive arc of these about 7ft heigh at the peak and about 30ft long in the curve, about 2" apart. There are thinner logs planted between them at the back the back of the arc for about 12-15 feet.

Kids get on the low ends and run up and across the whole thing but, when I've been walking the dogs in howling winds I always stop and sit inside it for half an hour while the dogs chase themslves silly. It's completely wind free there no matter how galeforce it gets.

Not sure if the logs were treated with chemicals or pressure treated but they are still standing after all this time.

If you did something similar in your worst hit areas it might make a nice backdrop for bamboo or palms until they have got big enough to cope on their own and grown taller than the windbreak.

Yushania maculata is a nice wind tollerant bamboo. Abit of a runner but quite attractive.

What you mean Jonny,

A bit of a runner. What, you buy a certain amount and it makes more. I have an eyesore to hide and was thinking as I gazed at the back garden that a Bamboo fence maybe whats required.

It will quite quickly spread to form a grove so not a good idea if you havnt got alot of space.

My Fergasia Robusta Campbell hedge is on a very exposed edge of my garden, bent right over with recent winds and come through looking great.


"Fargesia robusta “Campbell” is without doubt the most beautiful an useful variety. As far as hardiness, erect growth and compactness concerns, “Campbell” leaves behind all other varieties of Fargesia robusta. This bamboo has rather small shiny leaves. The white culmsheaths on the young shoots contrast wonderfully with the shiny, deep green erect culms. It is one of the best compact non-invasive bamboos for hedges between 3 and 4 meters high, but also as a solitary plant it is very convincing. “Campbell” is sun-resistant, quite hardy and strikingly wintergreen, because the leaves don’t curl up in winter."

Thanks Jonny,

Cordy, I mean the stuff you and others covered an original fence with.

Sorry, no idea what its called.

What is the difference between campbell and the straight robusta?

Thanks for all your ideas. Gogglebox - that sounds very interesting - i think I get what you mean - quite ingenious and quite a feature too. My other half is into making wooden structures - i predict a new project coming on for the summer.

Fargesia Robusta may be an option Cordyman - it is one of the fargesias I don't have yet. I've not heard of "Campbell" but I'll do my research.

Yushania maculata sounds interesting too Jonny - I'll look into that too.

I have a Campbell and I can see it from where I am sitting now.

I bought it last April and it was planted out around that time as well.

It did okay last spring/summer and survived last winter, but it did have a lot of dead leaves on it (I put this down to only being in the ground for 7 months before the plant-killing cold came).

It has sent up a lot of new culms (it was a big plant to start with) and I can see the new culms being blown around big style out there (they have also been blown around for the last couple of weeks) and I have only had one snapped new culm. The new culms remind me of those on my old nitidia, they are thin and whippy with very little weight in comparison to a new Phyllostachys culm and I reckon that is why I don't have loads of snapped new culms.

Sounds like Campbell is a good bet here then............