Clumper suggestions for the hot and humid southeast

[bamboothew]

I just saw that Plant Delights has recently introduced a selection of Bambusa multiplex called 'Green Giant' that is a culm sport from a clump of Alphonse Karr. It is said to be hardier and grow larger than the other multiplexes there in zone 7b. I don't think I can resist trying one...

[bamboothew]

Have gotten 4 new clumpers in the last 2 weeks: Fargesia robusta 'Wolong', Fargesia denudata, Thamnocalamus tessellatus (these 3 thanks to generous forum members, thanks!), and Bambusa multiplex 'Green Giant'. At the moment these are all potted in the shade. The two possibilities I see of these 4 for the best combo of sun/cold tolerance for this area are the Thamnocalamus and the Bambusa. Supposedly, that Bambusa shows tip burn around 14f but doesn't topkill even at brief exposure to 0f, so if this info is accurate it should be fine here most winters if I can protect it sufficiently until it matures a bit. It will certainly take full sun here. The Thamnocalamus should easily hold leaves here at least 90% of winters but its sun tolerance seems sketchy. Will probably wait at least a year or two to test its sun tolerance too much. I am encouraged, though, to know that Brad's tess is handling a good bit of sun.

Rufa update: the in-ground rufa is looking pretty ratty indeed now, though it is getting watered several times a week. However, as some of the backyard runners mature it will get increasing shade, plus I expect the plant to gain tolerance as it matures, so I suspect it will be rewarding enough at some point in the future, especially considering how well the potted rufa is doing now in the shade. It has totally recovered from its rattiness except for a few leaves that were fried before I moved it.

Yushania anceps: still a champ here for heat tolerance. Haven't yet seen a stressed leaf on these. Had to up-pot the potted anceps this week and found 4 long rhizome necks coming from it already so I think it will certainly run here. Funny thing, though, these "runners" don't circle the pot like running rhizomes usually do, they all just hit the wall of the pot and travel straight down to the bottom of the pot, interesting...

Hope everyone else's clumpers are doing great!

[bamboothew]

The potted rufa is looking great and has gotten so large I may even consider dividing it in late winter before shooting to let the divisions grow out so I can experiment with lots of different locations for that plant in a year or 2 (either way, it will need to be repotted by spring, amazing growth!). I hear it is very easy to propagate. The in-ground rufa still looks pretty ratty, but I have put potted runners in front of it for shade so that hopefully it will look better whenever it replaces its leaves. As I think I have said before, that area will be shaded in a couple of years anyway by maturing runners. Fargesia robusta 'Wolong' seems to tolerate my weather well on my shaded porch so I think that one may be a winner, at least in the shade, and it shouldn't need any winter protection here at all, even in a pot. F. denudata and Thamnocalamus tessellatus seem to have both promptly died, no huge surprise I guess, but will keep them watered and see what happens in the spring. The Bambusa multiplexes are all looking great since they love the summertime condtions here, but I am prepared to bring them in for the coldest parts of winter this year and maybe next winter as well. Hopefully they will size-up to ground-planting size in a year or two. Also got 2 more bambusas in the last few weeks to try as die-backs here: oldhami and clone-x Will bring those in for the winter this year as well, though I suspect they would be far too large to bring in next winter so they will likely go in the ground by spring.

[moriphen]

Fargesia robusta 'Wolong' seems to tolerate my weather well on my shaded porch so I think that one may be a winner, at least in the shade, and it shouldn't need any winter protection here at all, even in a pot. F. denudata and Thamnocalamus tessellatus seem to have both promptly died, no huge surprise I guess, but will keep them watered and see what happens in the spring.

Surprised you didn't put these plants in the ground, could have made the difference to those that appear dead. In addition if those divisions are really small, say 1 gallon and all the above growth is brown, it is safe to assume the below ground rhizomes would be dead too.

M

[bamboothew]

The denudata was a 1 gal, the tess what 3 gal, I think. The tess suffered some shipping stress but it didn't look that bad at first. Could be worth trying again. I just have a feeling that my climate is what finally did it in I potted both because I was unsure how much sun either would take and didn't want to risk too much sun. Rufa does very well in a pot on my covered porch so I thought the denudata probably would. Anyway, I think that perhaps the robusta will do very well here under a tree canopy, as will the rufa, and I think some of the multiplexes have a decent chance as well, especially on the west side of the house where there seems to be a pretty good microclimate. I have several setcreasea growing there that have resprouted the past few springs so that would no know be the most likely area where they may have a chance. Maybe I'll probably give up on trying any more mountain bamboos besides the ones that are already doing well. It's just too depressing to watch them struggle