Special: Field-dug bamboo plants for sale, winter and spring only.
Bring a touch of the exotic to your landscape with bamboo plants. Clumping, noninvasive varieties stay where you plant them.
I am offering six types of clumping, noninvasive bamboos this year as field-dug specimens over winter and spring. These are dug to order, available for pickup at the nursery in Citra, Florida (no shipping).
How to order: Check out the pictures and descriptions on this page, and decide what you want to order. Use the Contact Form to message me, give a list of what you want. I will get back to you, confirming availability, and we’ll set a day/time for you to pick up your plants. Depending on how much you’re getting, this might be in just a couple of days, or a week or more (these are dug to order, and that takes time).
What you get: a hefty root ball containing live bamboo roots and rhizomes, with at least two attached canes. This freshly dug root ball is contained in a bag (not a pot). To ensure survival through the transplanting process, I partially trim the canes back to a few nodes of leafy branches. Depending on variety, a “partially trimmed” plant may still have remaining canes up to 20 feet tall. For ease of transport, you may request that I trim the canes back further, to just a few feet above the soil surface – this will still result in a healthy, viable plant which will send up new shoots as warm weather arrives.
What your should bring: If you want to transport your plant with canes “partially trimmed” (cut to the first few few leafy nodes), bring sheets or plastic garbage bags for wrapping, duct tape or rope for securing the wraps, and a red flag (t-shirt, scrap of red cloth, flagging tape, etc) to attach to the end. A pickup truck works well for transporting field dug bamboo plants. Smaller vehicles may require trimming the canes back considerably for transport.
ROYAL BAMBOO aka WONG CHUK BAMBOO (Bambusa textilis ‘Kanapaha’)
A visually stunning plant. Grows to about 50 feet tall, with big 2 ½ inch diameter canes. Perfectly straight canes with long internodes have a whitish blush. Additionally, there are no branches or leaves for the first fifteen or twenty feet on a mature plant, letting you see the beautiful canes without any need for pruning. The canes are mostly upright, with only a slight bit of outward arching. Cold hardy into into low to mid teens F.
This species is also known as weaver’s bamboo because the thin-willed canes can be divided into flat splints and used for weaving into baskets, mats, and other crafts.
Rare and highly sought-after, due to its magnificent appearance and cold tolerance. I helped popularize this outstanding variety when I got the American Bamboo Society to recognize it as the distinct cultivar Bambusa textilis ‘Kanapaha’. You can see plantings of Royal Bamboo (supplied by me in the early 2000s) in the landscaping in front of the Harn Art Museum in Gainesville. With good care, Royal Bamboo can be sending up full-sized, fifty-foot canes just three to four years after planting.
Large field-dug plant with 3+ canes, $225
GRACILIS BAMBOO (Bambusa textilis gracilis)
A smaller form of Royal Bamboo. Grows about thirty feet tall, with canes up to 1.5 inches in diameter. Also known as Graceful bamboo, or Slender Weavers bamboo. Upright-growing and regal, Gracilis adds an exotic touch to yards where you don’t want to commit the space for the full-sized form of Royal bamboo. Cold hardy into low to mid teens F.
Field-dug plant with 3+ canes, $175
BLUE BAMBOO (Bambusa chungii)
A new introduction to Florida that is much in demand. Blue Bamboo is similar in overall appearance to Royal Bamboo, except that the powdery whitish coating on the canes is even more pronounced, giving them a decidedly blueish whitish tinge. Grows to about 40 feet. The canes are very upright, with very little outward arching, so they give the plant a regal columnar appearance. Cold-hardy to around 20 degrees.
Note: because one of Blue Bamboo’s ornamental characteristics is that the bottom 15-20 feet of the canes are leafless and branchless, that means if you want to buy a field-dug plant in the “partially trimmed” state (with a few branches and leaves left intact), then you will be taking home a plant with canes possibly as much as 20-25 foot tall. Keep that in mind when you decide how to transport it. You can also opt to have your plant “fully trimmed”, with canes cut to just a few feet above ground level – it will still be a healthy, viable plant that will send up new shoots once the weather warms.
Large field-dug plant with 2+ canes, $225
BUDDHA’S BELLY BAMBOO (Bambusa ventricosa)
A giant clumping bamboo that grows to 55 feet with canes 2 ½ inches and occasionally even three inches in diameter. Canes soar skyward and then arch outward and down in a weeping fashion, giving a mature patch the appearance of a giant fountain of green foliage. Canes are a glossy, dark green, and slightly zig-zagged. Tends to have some branches and leaves near the base, which can be pruned to expose the handsome canes. (there are types of bamboo called Buddha’s Belly which have short, bulging internodes. This form does not have those “bellies”.) Hardy to mid teens F.
A patch of Buddha’s Belly bamboo eventually gets BIG, with its 50+ foot canes arching outwards in all directions, so only plant this one where there’s plenty of space. If you are on some acreage and want a really impressive, giant visual screen, Buddha’s Belly might be just what you need.
Large field-dug plant with 2+ canes, $195
SILVERSTRIPE aka HEDGE BAMBOO (Bambusa multiplex)
This is the basic clumping bamboo for North Florida. A dense but graceful plant, it is great for visual screening. Green canes with a slight bit of silver striping, which is most pronounced when the new shoots emerge. In full sun it grows densely to about 15-20 feet; in partial shade it stretches out a bit, producing slightly less dense growth sometimes reaching 25-30 feet. Cold hardy into low teens F.
When left partially trimmed, field-dug plants of Silverstripe are 10-12 feet, so bring an appropriate vehicle if you are choosing that option.)
Field-dug plant with 3+ canes – $45
GOLDEN GODDESS BAMBOO (Bambusa multiplex)
A smaller version of hedge bamboo. Grows 10-20 feet tall, with canes that arch outward in all directions like a fountain. A great addition to yards where you don’t want to commit the space for a larger bamboo, it adds a graceful, exotic touch and makes an excellent shorter hedge. Cold hardy into low teens F.
Field-dug plant with 4+ canes, $55
For additional information on planting and growing bamboo, see the pages:
About Bamboo
Bamboo Planting & Care
Bamboo Questions & Answers
Bamboo Cold Hardiness
Florida Bamboo & Fruit Trees 