Hello! The good news is that most tropical bamboos are clumpers. Your
"Buddha's Belly" bamboo is Bambusa ventricosa, a mutant form of some other
species. That's why it is slow-growing. Most of the Bambusas that aren't
variegated or otherwise mutated in some way should grow faster.
Unfortunately I don't have a tropical Bamboo reference, but I think Bambusa
is a fairly good-sized genus. Extremely common in tropical Asia.

Bambusas vary in size. B. polymorpha can hit 90 feet tall, 6 inch diameter
culms. B. arundinacea can get even bigger in its native India. B.
ventricosa is probably one of the shortest.

Bambusas will probably be the easiest to find, and most or perhaps all of
them should adapt to your climate, because it is fairly close to some of
their native climates.

There are others! Now, I dunno if Ft. Lauderdale is "tropical enough" (since
it is not really in the tropics) for all of these, but they are worth
mentioning in case you get "collectoritis" or really want the look of a
big, exotic bamboo. Dendrocalamus species tend to be big ones! Dinochloa is
another big one. They will tend to want equatorial climates, ie, rain just
about every afternoon, and temperatures in the high 80s to low 90s
year-round. I dunno how they adapt to more of a subtropical climate with
some seasonal variation (cooler, drier winters).

One of the most beautiful and unusual-looking is the South American genus
Guadua, generally from equatorial latitudes of Amazonia but also Equador on
the west coast, as far north as southern Mexico and as far south as
southern Brazil. In recent decades these have been used as timber for some
innovative earthquake-resistent buildings in the tropical Andes. Some of
the species should be tolerant of your temperature range. These
unfortunately might be hard to find. You can read about Guaduas in the
excellent reference "American Bamboos" by Emmet J. Judziewicz, Lynn G.
Clark, Ximena Londono, and Margaret Stern. Guaduas tend to have beautiful
deep-green straight culms, that don't taper off quickly, giving a very
architectural appearance. I dunno if these can be had in the USA but the
American Bamboo Society would know who would have them if so, and where
they are already growing.

Atar

orangetrader wrote:

Will be moving into a property with a backyard about half an acre and a
front yard about a quarter acre. Right now, these areas are occupied by
three giant oak trees which cast over the house, and the property is
completely fenced in around the perimeter. Besides the oak trees are just
some palms here and there.

I am looking for ideas on what to do with the backyard. We are planning
to add a pond somewhere, and have always been facinated with the idea of a
large area of bamboos adjacent to a pond. With the oak trees the backyard
is always shaded there is virtually no sunlight and grass do not even grow
in that area except for a patch here and there.

What type of bamboo should we consider if we move forward with this idea?
We do not know much about bamboo except I bought two small 36" pots of
Budda's belly bamboo from a local grower for $60 a pot. I planted them
onto the ground in my current resident and they are now about 7 feet tall,
and
have spread only about 3 feet in each direction. Very slow growing and
very
expensive. If I wish to plant a large area I need some bigger, taller and
faster frowing variety, but I don't want any vigorous runners either. Any
ideas what would be a good choice (if there is one). Saw some beatiful
black bamboo a few years ago too and a single 10" pot was $250.00 -
expensive.

Location - Fort Lauderdale area - zone 10b

Thanks for any comments.

O

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