Gift that became an obsession — Black Bamboo

Someone gave me Black Bamboo as a birthday gift and I barely knew what it was. Two years later it's my most treasured plant and I've spent more time researching it than I'd care to admit.

The key discovery was removing the oldest and most congested canes each spring — once that clicked, the plant transformed. beautiful sound of canes moving in wind is what gets mentioned every time anyone visits. I keep it in a poolside or water feature surrounding planting which works perfectly. cane hardening and leafing out through summer is when I understand why this plant has such devoted followers. running bamboo spreading beyond its intended boundary is the one ongoing challenge but it's worth the effort.