Hardy Tropicals UK

Kristen wrote:

Brummie Brian wrote:avoid the variegated species

I think it looks nice - Will Giles has one with a Green one behind (sorry, not that easy to see from this photo)

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I agree! I've been growing it here for about 4 years now and it's well behaved, easy to look after and gives a good contrast colour for other plants.
If any stems get untidy I cut them off, strip off the leaves and chuck them in the pond and new plants start to grow from the leaf nodes, with a well formed root system. Then I just pot them up.

Grows to about 10ft here.

I've heard of the pond method but have not tried it..I have some stem buried since the fall we will see if they shoot from the nodes

miketropic wrote:I've heard of the pond method but have not tried it..I have some stem buried since the fall we will see if they shoot from the nodes

You can also propagate them (not personally tried, yet):

http://www.cooltropicalplants.com/Arund ... egata.html

Mine languished outside for several years but bit the dust in 2010 winter - they never came to much up here -summers too cool for any good growth spurts I would imagine.

Brummie Brian wrote:I am looking for a tall bamboo like grass to add to my garden and I think it is called Arundo donax. Does any one use it. I am looking for a tall variety. If anyone does use it I would be grateful for any info about height, hardiness, invasiveness. I have searched some plant sites and ebay but cant find any for sale. So if any one wants to part with a clump I am willing to purchase. Thanks

Arundo Donax isn't a bamboo, it's the most tall mediterranean grasses (3-6m) and likes seasonal watercourses, it can resist long periods of drought. It's very used like stakes in agriculture (exam. to grow tomatoes).

Arlon Tishmarsh wrote:

Birmingham Chris wrote: I have something similar with very long arching leaves with a white mid-rib which grows to about ten feet and dies back for the winter, really well behaved but can't remember what it is (sorry - that was REALLY unhelpful!).

Miscanthus perhaps ? Mine has a white mid rib.

I grow miscanthus giganteus, which is quite similar to arundo donax. It's has green leaves with a pale mid-rib. Mine grew to about 10 feet in its first season. I got mine from a local garden centre but I see urban jungle sells them at the moment. They say they eventually grow to 4m.

I grow, and really like, Miscanthus sacchariflorus - a tall grass. Not as tall as Arundo donax, not with canes as thick, but pretty dramatic nonetheless.

Mine do great up here...

I have just joined HT, so I am late contributing to this topic. I have grown the green version for about five six years in a north facing bed. It didn't do much for the first couple of years but now rockets up to about nine feet and seems to enjoy a mulch of compost each spring after cutting it down. Last year I planted a small variegated version next my Basjoo and this is now about seven feet tall. Seems it's no problem with plants in Telford Shropshire.

It would appear Arundo Donax likes Shropshire, I was looking to grow some around 10 years ago but eventually decided against it as I prefer something evergreen. However I did go as far as looking for a nursery to buy some from as there was none in Wales. I found a nursery on the Shropshire side of Oswestery. Not only were they selling it but they were growing quit a large bed of it which looked very kind. As Shropshire is not the warmest county in the UK. It can not be that tender.

Not hardy for me in my sheltered London garden. Only had the variegated survive two mildish winters till it succumbed to a third. I replaced it with a lovely specimen of A. versicolor I came across the following summer and this didn't make it through the following winter.

My all green one......that's another story! Had It more than twenty years and it has colonised a long narrow border with a five or six metre spread. I need to dig some out. That will be a job and a half.

Wasn't hardy for me in NW Kent either. Just didn't seem to take off, but I do have to contend with summer droughts quite often.

A good alternative to Arundo is Miscanthus giganteous but it can look tatty in winter unless you cut it down in Autumn.