Description

Height: Up to 6 metres

Common Name: Arrow Bamboo

The beautiful Arrow Bamboo, with its olive-green culms and large, deep-green, glossy leaves (up to 30 centimetres long) was cultivated in Japan 1,200 years ago for the crafting of arrows. Nowadays, its long, straight, sturdy canes make splendid plant stakes (at the end of their useful life we burn them in a sensationally pyrotechnic Halloween bonfire). Introduced to Europe in 1850, this accommodating plant grows in any position, in moist or moderately dry soil, and is the most wind-resistant of bamboos. It is classed as a runner, but we find that a quick yearly session of nipping away any sneaky, wayward rhizomes keeps it easily under control. Grow it as a hedge or screen, or as a handsome clump. Our favourite Victorian bamboo enthusiast, A.B. Freeman-Mitford, notes “I never saw it better than in a garden on the borders of Epping Forest, where upon a promontory jutting out into a piece of ornamental water, and with a most picturesque background, it has quite a tropical appearance.”