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Technicolour Bamboos

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 4:50 pm
by MarkD
Perhaps the Queen of coloured bamboos, Himalayacalamus falconeri 'Damarapa' or it's aptly right common name Candy Cane Bamboo is one of the most ornamental bamboos you can grow.

Stunning and Clump forming but unfortunately only borderline when it comes to hardiness :roll: Some have had little success with it, while others planted it on the ground and let it get razed down by frosts only to shoot back again in spring, reaching only 5' by mid summer. Mine is a tiddler specimen but stayed outdoors over winter and had no problems, but I'm keeping it in a plastic pot so I can move it easily under shelter if it gets really cold. It's had down -5.6 C without damage so far :)

The closest you can get to such colours on a hardy bamboo is Thamnocalamus crassinodus 'Kew Beauty' but you don't get the striping and is not as intense.
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Another alternative colourwise, Phyllostachys praecox viridisulcata:
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Semiarundinaria yashadake f. kimmei:
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Phyllostachys aureosulcata and it's varieties have got good colouring on the culms too, especially on sides that catches the sun and flush red on the first season.

There are mature clumps of this bamboo in Cornwall so if you live in an area with a warmer microclimate (like Cornwall, Devon, and London) or you have a very sheltered spot and you're after a very ornamental bamboo, 'Damarapa' is something to consider 8)

Re: Technicolour Bamboos

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 4:59 pm
by AndyC
Just when I'm thinking that I have all the bamboos I could possibly want someone has to post pictures of ones that I haven't got :roll:
Did the Darmarapa come though the winter better than your Drepanostachyum?

Re: Technicolour Bamboos

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 9:01 pm
by MarkD
AndyC wrote:Did the Darmarapa come though the winter better than your Drepanostachyum?
For me yes, by a mile :) The Drepanostachyum was overwintered in a garden outbuilding maintained at +5 and still nearly croaked while Damarapa has been outside all winter, and only the late shooting culms got damaged.

I love this bamboo, it's a stop and stare kind of plant and great for introducing the colour pink in the garden without using cottage garden flowers :lol:

Re: Technicolour Bamboos

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 9:11 pm
by Don
MarkD wrote:Perhaps the Queen of coloured bamboos
That seems a good title for you Mark. Superb pics, very inspiring and potentially very cash excessive (you swine) :lol:

Re: Technicolour Bamboos

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 9:22 pm
by MarkD
:lol: :lol: :lol:

I just might change my signature Don :DD

Re: Technicolour Bamboos

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 6:31 am
by jonathan poston
Hi Mark, great thread, love the Himalayacalamus.

Which Drepanostachyum have you got? I've got microphyllum which has been outside in Liverpool and Sussex for the past 3 winters. Last winter it was potted up at my mum's garden in a rural area and lost all its leaves due to dessication/cold and was in a very exposed position. However it has responded to planting at my new place and is rapidly getting a lovely flush of leaves. David Compton states that it is ideal as a potted bamboo for the patio but personally I've had more success with loads of other boos in pots. Certainly my Drepanostachum did not enjoy potted life.

Regards

Re: Technicolour Bamboos

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:12 am
by MarkD
Thanks Jonathan! :D Welcome to HTUK 8)

Boos are difficult to photograph aren't they? Had to take loads of photo just to get a handful of ones in focus, especially I only have an automatic camera.

My Drepanostachyum started to go downhill as soon as I've put it in the garden outbuilding. I did think it was due to dessication but it probably does resent pot culture too. I must give it a tickle too just to be sure it's not vine weevil :roll: It's had such a bad die back that there's only about 4 inches of living culms left but at least there's left leaf coming out. It just have to shoot back from the compost now and I'll get it planted on the ground :)

Re: Technicolour Bamboos

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:22 am
by Ali K
Hi Mark, I bought a Damarapa last year - beautiful isn't it. Mine's even smaller than yours and spent the winter in the greenhouse. It didn't like it much in there and lost most of it's leaves but a small lushuiensis and a Himalayacalamus blue from Amulree seemed fine. Maybe I'll leave the Damarapa out this winter if it's a bit bigger by then.

Re: Technicolour Bamboos

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:41 am
by Gaz
Hi Jonathan and welcome on board, do you have any pics of your boo?

Re: Technicolour Bamboos

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 1:39 pm
by jonathan poston
Hello everyone thanks for the welcome.

When you ask for pictures of my boo Gaz do you mean the Drepanostachyum? I haven't any individual pictures at the moment though I have some shots of the garden development as I've only planted the garden from late March through until a few weeks back. All of my plants had to suffer a whole year potted and you can imagine the bamboos didn't particularly like that. Consequently all my boos could look better but they are all on the road to recovery.

Re: Technicolour Bamboos

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 1:47 pm
by Gaz
Hi Jonathan, yes i did mean the Drepanostachyum, although a few pics of the garden development would probably go down really well too.

Glad to hear the potted ones are getting better now, did the move go ok?

Re: Technicolour Bamboos

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 3:29 pm
by ChrisG
Welcome Jonathon.

Great photos Mark. I looked at this bamboo a couple of years ago while looking for somethig to form a bamboo screen. It wasn't suitable for what i needed but always wanted to get one.

I got a freebie from Amulree with an advanced order of the Himalayacalamus, Simon just called it himalayan blue. I hoped this was the same as yours, any ideas? I suspect mine will turn out to be plain blue which is what the 2 old culms are currently, In which case i will just have to splash out for a stripie one this year :)

Re: Technicolour Bamboos

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 7:18 pm
by jonathan poston
Hi Gaz, here are a couple of shots of the Drepanostachyum microphyllum.

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The photos do not do it justice, the colouration and the delicate nature of the leaves are just not picked out well enough by the camera. When the new shoots appear (it's a late shooter this one) the culms will turn a fantastic reddish, purplish black. That's in addition to the dark lustrous green of the cane. I am well pleased with its current performance as it was completely denuded of leaves by spring but its regeneration continues with only a few culm nodes completely dead. It will bush out a lot more and the leaves will cause a slight weeping habit on the canes. It has smaller leaves than any other boo I own except perhaps for Thamnocalamus crassinodus 'Merlyn'.

Here are a couple of shots of the garden as it was in February, then a couple more taken two weeks ago when I laid lawn.


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I was surprised when a rather small Musa basjoo produced this flag leaf.

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Can anybody hazard a guess at this shoot? I'll give you a clue, it's a Phyllostachys. :D

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Re: Technicolour Bamboos

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 7:40 pm
by Mick C
Hi Jonathon, good to see you here, and also that your new garden is coming along nicely.

Re: Technicolour Bamboos

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:07 pm
by Dave Brown
Hi Johnathan, and welcome to the forum. 8)

Can't say much about banboo, apart from the 5 types I have seem to be the Olympic Gold Medallists of long distance running.

Like the transformation of the garden lot of work through bad weather, well done :wink: