Quote:
Originally Posted by Pam Moore
My bamboo, phyllostachys nigra, went black and flowered last year. I cut it all down to the ground and anticipated that that was the end of it.
Then it sent out a lot of new shoots which looked healthy.
Having read your post I have looked at it today and all the leaves are
black. Incidentally, last summer I saw clumps of it black and flowering in 3
public gardens. It is said that once they flower they die, which is what I thought was happening to mine. Time will tell.
Pam in Bristol
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Are you absolutely sure? I have recently heard of a few cases of P Nigra flowering, but they have all turned out to be Fargesia nitida, which really is flowering. Do your canes have a clear groove (sulcus) - one on every segment, on alternating sides of the cane swapping over at each node? That is a surefire identifier of Phyllostachys. For example, in this one the sulcus is coloured yellow:
http://www.junglegiants.co.uk/acatal...s_Inversa.html.
The unscrupulous often sell F nitida as P Nigra.
You were lucky if yours came back. You may just find it comes back to flower again. But there are some cases of it recovering.