Dendrocalamus Latiflorus – Giant Taiwanese Bamboo – is a very large clumping species which grows to about 26 metres, and is one of our absolute favourites.
Its magnificent large and straight culms are smooth in appearance and a rich dark green. With a reasonably tight growing habit and slightly weeping form, the Latiflorus is a beautiful feature plant in any larger garden, provides excellent shade, and has beautiful large glossy dark green leaves.
A very fast growing species, care should be taken to avoid placing them in a windy area as this can cause damage. As you will see from the images below, whilst partially protected, our property is subject to some wind gusts and the largest of our poles is starting to split about 1 metre from the base due to stress.
This is its 5th year’s growth in the 2011/12 growing season and the new shoots are looking very promising. The Latiflorus will never disappoint, it’s a beautiful clumping species, fast growing, dark smooth green culms and leaves, and beautiful weeping shape. Pure beauty. You can see from the shots below after its first year (first shot) to its 5th year in growth. It now stands at over 25 metres tall, and has beautiful mature culms.
Latiflorus after its first growing season Dec 2008
Latiflorus Jan 2012
Latiflorus Jan 2012 New Shoots
Latiflorus Jan 2012 Mature Culm Splitting from Wind Damage
Latiflorus Culms 4 years
Latiflorus nearly 4 years old
After some great rain in January / February 2012, the Latiflorus has really come into its own, and this is why it’s my absolute favourite all time bamboo. We do very little maintenance on our Latty, in fact I don’t think we’ve done much since planting it, yet it always looks incredible. Neat smooth large dark blue-green culms and clean growing habit at the base, with incredible rich large leaves, very striking and beautiful in appearance.
Latiflorus March 2012
Latiflorus Bamboo March 2012
Two years of drought conditions hit all our bamboos hard. The Lati simply went into hibernation, dropping some leaves but holding any shoot activity.
After a few good weeks of rain, January 2015 sees some new healthy shoots and a great covering of fresh leaves. We need to undertake some maintenance to remove the past years dying growth, and are considering hollowing out the centre to put a bench in the middle.
Two weeks on and I’ve taken another shot – the new shoots shown above are now really impressive, and we’ve had 4-4.5m growth on the largest of the new shoots in that time, despite little rain in the fortnight. The colour of the culms has also really darkened.
Clumping Bamboo in Australia 
Posted by elena on April 25, 2014 at 7:07 am
hi there,
I am thinking of buying this type of bamboo, but I am not sure about how much wind it can take. I live in the very south of Spain where it is pretty windy sometimes, and the land where I want to plant it is and open space, no much wind protection. Temperatures go from 4ºC to 35ºC. I am not sure about which kind of bamboo would be best for this area. I am not sure about the following:
Bambusa Oldhamii
Gigantochloa Atroviolacea
Guada Angustifolia Kunth “Less Thorny”
Dendrocalamus latiflorus
Please, could you help me out?
Thanks a mil!
Elena
Posted by tanyamunro on April 25, 2014 at 11:14 am
Hi Elena,
Thanks for your comments. I’m not certain of your geographical temperature and rainfall, as we only have experience growing these in subtropical climate in Queensland Australia, however I can give you some guidance on a few of the varieties and two which you have mentioned.
If you’re after a windbreak, I would not recommend Latiflorus. Lati’s have large leaves which are a little delicate. They are beautiful as large feature plants, and have very large culms (see below) and they are very attractive, but their growing habit is not completely erect – they weep slightly.
We have two varieties – the standard and the Mei Nung – which is slightly smaller and lime green culms, but not as tight in their growing habit and slower growers.
Our standard Lati is one of my favourite bamboos. Very beautiful, but as I said, more of a large striking feature plant. Large beautiful dark green culms, beautiful large weeping leaves.
Bambusa Olhamii are very good – we have these down either side of our property as fence / windbreaks. They are attractive with thicker culms – up to 10cm – erect in growing habit so you can plant them closer together (we have planted 1.5m between), very attractive, grow to about 20-25m tall, and are really quite drought tolerant once established. We had amost no rain for 4 months and they came through much better than most of our other bamboos. Of course, if in a drier area they won’t grow as thick, fast and tall. In ideal climates and rainfall they maximise their potential. They are relatively fast growing and my favourite for barrier fencing.
Bambusa Textilis Bamboo would be my pick for an average height fast growing and attractive fence / hedge. The standard textilis grows about 15m tall, have culms about 4-5cm diameter, dark green very attractive, and the leaves are smaller so more drought tolerant and less affected by wind.
Gracilis is of the Textilis family, but shorter and thinner culms (about 3cm diameter) and up to 8m tall, but very similar in their growth. You can plant about 1.5m apart and they will grow into one another nicely to provide good coverage. Textilis is very similar just a little taller and thicker. I’d probably plant these 3m apart for a standard.
If you are in a salty area you will need to be very careful that the bamboo is salt tolerant. I have no experience in this as we are protected from salt spray – we’re about 20km from the coastline up in the hinterland.
All bamboos will need time, water and protection to get established. If you pick a good clumping variety you’ll be rewarded well. A little grass fertiliser once a year applied during heavy rain is best as you won’t have to water it in. After a couple of years they will be self mulching, so don’t plant too close to your house or buildings if you don’t want the leaves on the roof.
Durnford Dart from Bamboo Australia is a great resource for information as well. Here is his website.
http://www.bambooaustralia.com.au/
One species I would not recommend is Multiplex. They are very tight growing, and relatively fast growers, but I find not very attractive, and they are subject to sooty mould growth in damp weather, which is hard to treat.
I have yet to load the images taken a few months ago. I haven’t taken any this growing season as we had absolutely no rain so had very little growth this year. Bamboos have a distinct growing season from spring to Autumn, then lie dormant. Hoping we get more summer rain this year.
All the best, and please keep in touch and let me know what you plant?
Cheers,
Tanya Munro.
Posted by Elena Virues on April 25, 2014 at 7:16 pm
Dear Tanya,
Thank you so much for your very detailed answer. I really appreciate your time and effort to explain into detail your wide bamboo experience. I think I didn’t give you enough information about the weather conditions in my area and about what I am exactly looking for in a bamboo. I am not really looking for a windbreak hedge. I am mostly interested in a striking and magnificent bamboo. I love green think culms, from 10cm onwards. I am not really into the thin ones, that’s why I am mostly trying to learn more about the thick bamboo varieties. However, I like the very erect culms, not the weeping ones.
Regarding weather conditions, I have checked for a chart with detailed annual rainfall and weather conditions of my area (Chiclana, Cadiz Province, Spain). I could send you the weather chart for my area, so you could have a better idea of the weather compatibility with the bamboo species I listed in my previous post. I believe my absolute favourites are the following due to culm thickness and visual impact:
Guada Angustifolia Kunth “Less Thorny”
Dendrocalamus latiflorus
For what you said in your previous post, a lati may not be such a good idea afterall as it weeps slightly. So what do you think about the “Guada Angustofolia Kunth “Less Thorny”? Could that kind of bamboo grow in my area? I read the shoots are edible but I am not a 100% sure, as it is mostly used as a timber bamboo.
Looking forward to hear from your. What are your thoughts about this? Thanks for your kindness.
Regards,
Elena V.
Southern Spain Area
Posted by tanyamunro on April 25, 2014 at 9:00 pm
Hi Elena,
If you have a more protected area and can keep the water up to the Latiflorus then it will provide you with a beautiful plant. My concern is your very high temperatures for 6 months of the year. Lati has larger leaves so likely to lose more fluid and get sunburn especially if very open and little shade.
If you want something tight clumping then I would really recommend a Textilis – standard (12-14m)or Gracilis if you only want up to 7-8m tall.
They are quite tolerant and easy to grow, and require little maintenance.
Oldhamii are also good but a larger grower and slightly less dense in growing habit. They have edible shoots as well, although we have never sacrificed a shoot for food – we rather the growth.
Both plants have smaller leaves so would do well in a hotter climate and full sun. Textilis will grow faster though. They will take 1-2 years to really establish, then they will take off.
Bamboo is an excellent screener and good for soil erosion if you have a slope – many species prefer to be planted on a slope.
To be honest, I would avoid any thorny bamboo. We considered this for our fenceline, however bamboo does require some maintenance to keep them looking their best, and in a tight clumper it’s hard enough to get in and remove dead culms, let alone having thorns in your way! You’ll be torn to shreds, and subsequent years won’t maintain them so they won’t look their best.
If you have high constant winds during the year, then perhaps you could establish a wind break using a tighter clumper such as a Textilis / Gracilis, and then some larger ornamentals throughout your property as they will be more protected. You could also look at staggering your planting so it’s not all in one straight line. If you like really interesting looking bamboos – Giant Buddha’s Belly (Bambusa vulgaris cv wamin) is amazing. Like you I prefer tall large straight green culms, but grew to really like its striking form and colouration through the new shoots (bright yellow).
We planted a variety of plants – Oldhamii and Jaculans (turned out to not be drought tolerant) around the edges of our property for privacy and protection, and then more delicate and interesting varieties spotted throughout our 1.5 acres including black, gold, blue and giant bamboos. If you have time and plan your garden, you can establish protection from the elements, then eventually weather / climate permitting, plant the more interesting species.
One species we found completely failed was Bali Gold. Absolutely magnificent rich butter-gold colour, very straight growth pattern, but we just can’t get our plant to thrive. Have tried 7 different locations, and after 6 years of trying have put it back in a pot. It’s still only 50cm tall. Failure. But our only real failure in the bamboos. Careful species selection for your climate will ensure they have the best chance.
I hope this has helped and wish you all the very best in developing your garden.
Best wishes, Tanya.
Posted by Elena Virues on April 25, 2014 at 9:41 pm
Tanya, thank you so much for your highly detailed explanation. Sorry to hear about the Bali Gold, I can’t really advice you much on that as I am not an expert in bamboos, just a fun of bamboos and palm trees. The only advice I can give is just to read as much as possible about that specific variety, as we can learn from others that might have encountered the same issue. Internet is the greatest tool for that, lots of information, it just takes time to get the right info.
I have been checking about the textilis you recommend, however I think it may be better for my land to get a less tight clumper, as that may make the land look smaller as it is narrow and long. I am looking for an open clumping bamboo, I thought about the Guada Angustifolia Kunth “Less Thorny” because I read it is a thornless variety bamboo, it is widely used in Colombia, Brasil, Ecuador, Peru, etc, so I thought it may work here, not sure though.
Regarding the Bambusa Vulgaris cv Wamin (Giant Buddha’s Belly), it’s funny you brought this up, as it goes my first bamboo option. However after a bit of research I was a bit confused as I think there are 2 different types, one the giant and the other the dwarf Buddha’s belly bamboo (Bambusa Tuldoides Ventricosa). I am not sure if it is the same specie or the growth just depends on how much water and sun it gets.
I think I am going to do what you recommend, getting some protection in the land (walls on either sides or sth), so I get more options.
I am impressed! you are really patient, you tried for 6 years, good! never give up on plants, hope you can solve it one day. Maybe it is just that specific specimen that is a bit smaller or they told u it is the specie you were looking for and it is a different one.
Well, thank you so much for everything, I will let u know what I’ll do at the end.
Have a lovely day! Regards from Spain
Posted by Carlos Gonzalez on June 26, 2016 at 6:45 am
Hi. Does anybody knows where I can get a Dendrocalamus latiflorus Subconvex in Texas or Continental USA?
Cheers,
Carlos