Your guide to growing bamboo

Bamboo plants can add grace and beauty to any landscape, but they can also cause a maintenance nightmare if you don't choose and use them carefully. Check out this guide before you plant, and you'll save yourself time and money in the long run!

Bamboos are actually a type of grass, and like grasses, they come in two different forms: clump formers and creepers.

The creeping kinds, such as black bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra) and golden bamboo (Pleioblastus viridistriatus) are the ones that can cause problems because their roots spread far and wide and are very hard to control.

• If you really want to grow them, try them in large pots or use them as ground covers in very difficult sites, such as steep slopes.
• Otherwise, you'll need to surround their roots with barriers of sheet metal or very heavy plastic one to 1.2 metres deep, and even that might not stop them completely. Or site them in the middle of a grassy area so you can mow around them regularly.

Luckily for bamboo lovers, there are some clump-forming kinds of bamboo.

• They tend to be slow growing, but once they're established, they'll provide many years of easy-care elegance without making pests of themselves.
• The best of the bunch are the umbrella or fountain bamboos (Fargesia spp.). These well-behaved evergreen bamboos typically thrive warmer climates, and they usually grow best with morning sun and afternoon shade.

To get bamboo plants off to a good start, prepare a planting hole that's just as deep as the root ball but at least twice as wide.

• After planting, water daily for the first week or two if rainfall is lacking, then once or twice a week for another month.
• Taper off to once every few weeks by the end of the growing season.
• By the following year, your bamboo should be fine without extra water except during extended dry spells.

A five- to eight-centimetre layer of organic mulch helps keep the soil cool and moist, encouraging good rooting and healthy top growth.

• In spring and summer, grass clippings are great for mulching bamboo.
• In the fall, spread a thick layer of leaves around the base of the plant to protect the shallow roots from freezing.

Bamboos are seldom troubled by insects.

• If you do find scale or other sucking pests on your plants, cut and burn the infested stalks or spray with an insecticide.