BAMBUSA MULTIPLEX GOLDEN GODDESS

 

   Quail Gardens - Encinitas, California  

 

Probable height in Southern California within 3 years in the ground = 6'

Possible ultimate height in Southern California after many years in the ground = 12'

Height in habitat = 12'

Loses leaves around  20 to  25 degrees Fahrenheit.

Loses canes around  5 to  10 degrees Fahrenheit.

Rhizomes die around  -5 to 0 degrees Fahrenheit.

If growing in the ground it prefers half sun, half shade.

A clumping bamboo - rhizomes will not run sideways.

Minimum soil depth required for a healthy plant = 1'

Unrestrained rhizome depth in moist soil = 18"

 

        Our least favorite easily commercially available bamboo.  In fact, we despise the plant and never recommend it for landscaping.  We would rather suggest privet or ficus, both of which are slow growing, but which ultimately produce a healthy green hedge.

 

        Doesn't have much bamboo character.   Foliage is usually yellowish.  Arches sideways quite broadly if not kept pruned.  Container or screening plant with thin, weedy, open arching branches & leaves in lacy sprays.  Likes water & hot weather.  Not as dense or vigorous a plant as the larger types.   Often specified by property owners or landscape architects or contractors who read about it in the 'Western Garden Guide,' where they see it described as a small clumping bamboo but have never actually seen or grown the plant. 

 

        10 plants planted in Charlotte, NC in April of 1989 suffered winter exposure to 20 degrees for 3 days & did not recover.  We don't know their condition as to mulch & moisture.