Bamboo shows off, and behaves

• Blue fountain bamboo (Fargesia nitida). Dark red-purple or brown-purple culms to 18 feet tall. Delicate green leaves. Hardy to minus 20 degrees F. Morning sun or full shade. Clumper.

• Yellow groove bamboo (Phyllostachys aureosulcata). Green culms with yellow grooves grow – sometimes in a zigzag shape – to 25 feet tall. Hardy to minus 10 degrees F. The most reliable tall bamboo in the Northeast. Runner.

• Phyllostachys vivax. Green culms to 35 feet or taller. Hardy to minus 5 degrees F. It's the hardiest of the timber bamboos. Shoots are excellent for eating. Runner.

• Black bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra 'Hale'). Culms turn black as they age. Reaches 20 feet tall. Hardy to minus 5 F. Grow in shade. Protect with extra mulch in winter. Runner.

• Pleioblastus viridistriatus. Striped leaves: grass-green with bright yellow. To three feet tall. Hardy to 10 degrees F, but not evergreen. Shade. Ground cover. Runner.

• Kumazasa (Sasa veitchii). Dark green leaves develop white margins in winter. Great in a wooded garden. Two to three feet tall. Hardy to zero F. Evergreen. Ground cover. Runner.

Where winters are mild, temperate and tropical bamboos thrive. Look for:

Alphonse Karr bamboo (Bambusa multiplex ). Bright-yellow culms (stalks) and random dark-green stripes. Grows to 26 feet tall. It's hardy to 12 degrees F., and is a clumper.

Golden goddess bamboo (Bambusa multiplex ). Branches start low and crisscross so you cannot see through them. Hedge to 8 feet. Hardy to 12 degrees F. Clumper.

Giant timber bamboo (Bambusa oldhamii). A tropical bamboo growing more than 40 feet tall with deep-green culms 4 inches across. Minimum temperature: 20 degrees F. Clumper.

Buddha's belly bamboo (Bambusa tuldoides 'Ventricosa'). Has zigzagging, bulging culms and branches. Grows to 40 feet high. Will be a dwarf in a pot. Minimum temperature: 15 degrees F. Clumper.

Marbled bamboo (Chimonobambusa marmorea). Shoots and leaves marbled with cream and purple. Mature culms turn red or dark purple. Grows to 4-1/2 feet tall. Minimum temperature: 15 degrees F. Runner.

Square bamboo (Chimonobambusa quadrangularis). Cross sections of stem are square with rounded corners. Outdoors, it forms an 18-foot hedge. Minimum temperature: 15 degrees F. Runner.

Indocalamus tessellatus Deep-green arrow-shaped leaves are long and broad. Culms to 5 feet tall. Shade. Hardy to minus 5 degrees F. Runner.

Mexican weeping bamboo (Otatea acuminata aztecorum). Tall weeping hedge to 15 feet. Suited to container culture indoors or out. Minimum temperature: 22 degrees F. Clumper.

Green onion bamboo (Pseudosasa japonica 'Tsutsumiana'). Variegated bamboo with swollen sections of culm, much like a green onion. Grows to 13 feet tall. Suited to container culture indoors or out. Minimum temperature: minus 5 degrees F. Part shade. Runner.

For more information, see "Bamboo for Gardens," by Ted Jordan Meredith, and "The Gardener's Guide to Growing Temperate Bamboos," by Michael Bell. Both are published by Timber Press.

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