Crookstem Running Bamboo 'Alata'

Time to get back to some bamboo. The second species I'll talk about is actually the first I planted and I think it is what you see most commonly along the roadside or in peoples yards in the southeast. I have Phyllostachys aureosuicata 'Alata' (crookstem bamboo). I got some from a friend, who transplanted if from NC, and I have purchased some from a local nursery. This is a serious running bamboo and requires a lot of maintained and hands on work to control if you don't keep it in a pot or contained some other way. It is nice because it grows fast, dense, is evergreen, tall, and can handle cold temperatures. It can handle 0°F no problem. It may die back if it goes below that for a while but it will bounce back in the spring. It got down to 8°F here in Atlanta last winter and it didn't seem to bother mine at all.



Crookstem in the back yard before clearing a bit

It's called crookstem because the canes will frequently have a crook or zig zag in them. It seems to happen is a pretty small percentage of mine. I'm not sure if that is normal or not. I should have taken a close up picture of one of those.....maybe next time.


After some clearing work

 The birds love to fly in and out of the bamboo down to the stream and koi pond.



Pile of pulled bamboo

I mentioned this species requires a lot of work and the photos above show an are where I pulled some of the bamboo out, to thin it out a bit, and the resulting pile. I usually do this about twice a year to keep it under control.


Amongst the bamboo canes

This year I cleared a little path so I could walk through the bamboo which is really nice. I was trying to capture that with the above photo. I need to add some cool stepping stones.

My tallest canes at the moment are probably about 12 feet but I've read this species can get as tall as 46 feet under ideal conditions! It is always so exciting each spring to see the how thick the new shoots are which is the first clue as to the height they will grow. I bet some will pass 15 feet this spring. Time will tell.