PLEIOBLASTUS GRAMINEUS

 

6' height, Shade/sun, 10 degrees F Minimum, Runner.

 

An elegant, graceful container subject or an aggressive runner which will naturalize a moist area with 3-6' stems & grass-like hanging leaves.  Hillier's says it prefers shade, but ours are doing well in full sun.  Seems surprisingly rather slow-growing in a pot.

        Single node rhizome cuttings will put out foliage in response to heat & humidity in early spring, but if the cuttings are then put in gallon pots outdoors the plants fail. So - keep them growing in small pots in the heat & humidity until they are well established.

        Ed Hopkins in Ridgely, Maryland has a beauty growing in the ground where it suffers -4 degrees F., dies to the ground but then vigorously recovers the next spring.

        Hermine - "Another misunderstood container plant. Fountain-like, one of my personal favorites.  You could grow it in a hanging basket or dead car body."

        Imported into the U.S. from the Japanese Ryukyus Islands in 1877.

PLEIOBLASTUS GRAMINEUS MONSTROUS SPIROSUS   The ABS SoCal reference collection contains one plant. George Shor described the plant as the "ugliest bamboo in the world" & then bought a 10 gallon plant for himself at the spring 1994 auction for $30.  Ginger Bareis bought one for herself at the 1994 ABS auction in San Francisco for $80.  A gallon pot 12" high sold for $65 at the spring 1995 SCABS auction.