Texas Bamboo

If you are a landscaper, architect, or city planner in Texas, then you may not spend much time working with clumping bamboo. But that might be about to change. Clumping bamboo is an ideal privacy barrier, a great statement piece, an accent, and a beautiful specimen.

The varieties of clumping bamboos we grow at Palmco are cold hardy to 15-25 °F and are ideal for the humid, subtropical climate of southeast Texas. They should have little or no damage even when exposed to short periods of frost. If they are too cold for long, they may lose their leaves, and the culms may die back, but the root mass will survive, sending up healthy new shoots in the spring.

One of the primary reasons people plant clumping bamboo is for its attractive appearance. This means it can be used very effectively as a centerpiece. It is great as a way to get a little color into a landscape, is excellent for privacy screening, and provides a great sense of form when taken care of properly.

Here are several of our favorites:

Alphonse Karr Bamboo: This dense Chinese bamboo has low water requirements and is extremely cold-hardy to about 15 °F, once established. It grows to 20 to 25 feet with striking 1- inch diameter yellow culms that have random green stripes. It makes a great screen or hedge bamboo and provides a golden glow in the garden.

Emerald Bamboo: This is the variety most people picture when they think of bamboo. It is elegant, tall and straight, and new culms feature a whitish-blue waxy tint that turns a muted green color as they age. The plant grows to a stately height of 30 to 40 feet. Emerald bamboo makes an excellent ornamental specimen and creates an attractive, dense privacy screen or windbreak. It is cold-hardy to 15 °F.

Nana Bamboo: This stunning species from Thailand is a beautiful ornamental with very small leaves, an upright growth habit and thick culms. It is naturally branchless near the ground and tends to arch at the top, creating a feathery, delicate umbrella-like canopy. Nana’s medium height (to 25 feet) makes a beautiful statement in any landscape. It is cold-hardy to 28 °F.

Tropical Blue Bamboo: This popular clumper from China has light green leaves and nicely spaced thin-walled culms with a mystical pale blue powdery bloom. It is sometimes called Blue Timber Bamboo or White Bamboo. Its 35-foot height and 3” diameter canes grow upright and will create a dense privacy hedge. Tropical Blue Bamboo is very hardy to 20°F.

About Palmco

Palmco serves the contiguous U.S. from our 600-acre farm in Bokeelia on Pine Island, Florida. We provide FF-grade palms, top-quality clumping bamboos, and spectacular ornamental plants, such as the Mast Tree, to landscape contractors, architects and developers who want to beautify residential estates, resorts, golf courses, commercial properties and more.

If you are in Texas and looking for fresh ideas to use for screening, an accent, or a specimen, then look no further than clumping bamboo from Palmco. If you are interested in learning more about what we have to offer, feel free to call us from Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm, at (239) 283-1329.