Florida Bamboo – Animals A to Z

Bamboo has been called “the most amazing plant in the world” due to its many uses. This member of blessing The grass family can be used for everything from floors to furniture to fences to food! (And a bunch of other things that don’t start with an “F,” either.) Besides all of its utilitarian potential, gardeners grow bamboo as ornamental plants and natural privacy screens. However, choosing bamboo for your landscaping is tricky. After all, there are more than 1,400 species of bamboo. What Are the Best Types of Bamboo for Florida Gardeners, and Which Should You Avoid?

Carbonated bamboo

First, and most importantly, gardeners need to avoid any bamboo that has been declared invasive in their state or region. Florida classifies golden bamboo (Phyllostachys aurea) is invasive, along with several other states including Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Georgia.

Golden bamboo is a running bamboo. Bamboo runs (also known as runners) grow very quickly. On average, runners can spread three to five feet per year, but some bold bamboo species can spread up to 10-15 feet per year. Running bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on earth.

Golden bamboo, also known as cane bamboo and walking stick bamboo, has its origins in southeastern China. It is one of the most widely accessible types of bamboo in the world today. Besides North America, this bamboo also causes significant invasive problems in Australia.

Golden bamboo is widely available online as well as in stores and nurseries. However, Florida gardeners are strongly discouraged from growing this invasive bamboo.

Bamboo cluster

Most of the bamboo species are running bamboo. Not many of them are considered invasive, but all runners have the ability to quickly spread beyond their intended limits.

On the other hand, lumpy bamboos grow more slowly. While the horizontal root systems (rhizomes) of runners spread very quickly, clusters have a short root structure that cannot expand more than a few inches per year.

Best Florida Bamboo

Choosing the best bamboo for your landscape depends on the USDA plant hardiness zone. Florida ranges from Zone 8a in the northern parts of the Panhandle to Zone 11b in the Florida Keys. With such a wide range of hardiness zones, the types of bamboo available to Florida gardeners will depend greatly on their location in the Sunshine State. However, there is a wide variety of bamboo for every hardiness zone in Florida. Here are some great examples.

bamboo wafer (bamboo texture)

As the name suggests, this bamboo is used for furniture and basket weaving. It’s also a notable ornamental bamboo in Zones 7-9, which means this bamboo can thrive in most parts of Florida. Imagine a diagonal line drawn from Fort Myers to Vero Beach. Roughly speaking, any Florida gardener north of this line can successfully grow weaver’s bamboo.

This lumpy bamboo is exceptionally deer-resistant, which is important if there are more than half a million white-tailed deer present. It also provides an easy natural privacy screen.

There are different types of this bamboo that grow at different heights. dwarf cultivar (bamboo texture “dwarf”) is about 18 feet tall, sometimes reaching 20 feet.

slender bamboo wafer (Bambusa Var Textiles. gracilis) are the most common variety. It reaches 25 feet in height, about the same height as a standard two-story house.

If you want to go big, you can choose giant weaving bamboo (bamboo texture Kanabaha). This type of bamboo can reach 50 feet or more in height.

Seabreeze Bamboo (Bambusa malingensis)

For South Florida gardeners, this bamboo is for you. As its name suggests, this clumping bamboo is salt-tolerant and ideal for coastal areas.

Seabreeze bamboo is recommended for zones 9a-11. Back to our fictional diagonal line from Fort Myers to Vero Beach, except this time we’re focusing on the south. Any Florida gardener who lives below this line can probably grow successful sea breeze bamboo.

This bamboo grows to heights of about 40 feet, which makes it ideal for privacy screens. It features an umbrella-type arch at maturity, but don’t let the curvature fool you. This bamboo can withstand strong Florida winds. It is also drought and flood resistant. It’s easy to see why this bamboo is a popular choice among gardeners in warm weather areas.

These two bamboos aren’t the only options available for Florida gardeners. However, they are two of the easiest and most reliable non-invasive types of bamboo for landscaping in the Sunshine State.

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