Needmore Bamboo Co.
 
                 
         
Bashania Genus - I have one member of this genus - Bashania fargesii, and I hope to obtain a rare second form in the next year that is not readily available in the US - B. quinchengshanensis.    Not widely grown in the US B. fargesii has earned a reputation for hardiness in Europe and Asia. Unfortunately for me, mine was set back by vole attacks during the first couple of years in the ground and it has not yet had a chance to establish, nor exhibit its true hardiness. Still it has shown 2 hardiness characteristics that are rare among the bamboos and I am hopeful that it will take off now that it seems to be getting a foothold.
    The B. fargesii that I saw in the Netherlands were beautiful and large, 20 feet by 1.25 inch diameter culms with long dark green leaves and a faint blue/white powdery blush on young culms.  The 2 hardiness traits I alluded to are both related to the shoots. Although the temperature fell to +3F in the winter of 2005-06, the bottom half of a late fall shoot survived and continued to grow in the spring by branching and leafing out on the lower half, with top kill on the top half of the shoot. This is the only bamboo other than the hyper-hardy A. gigantea that has had late fall shoots survive winter and grow on. This year it is still shooting in October so I will get another look at this characteristic. The other hardy trait is that the shoots are among the first to emerge in my garden in very early March and they do not show signs of damage at temperatures well below freezing over the next several weeks. Only in the Sasa, and Indocalamus genus have I noticed such hardy shoots and none of my other 'timber' forms of bamboo have done this. These factors make me believe that the plant will prove to be quite hardy once well established. Large culms of B. fargesii - 30 feet by 2 inches, have been grown in Switzerland.
  It is my understanding that this B. fargesii can be extremely aggressive and that combined with its hardiness may make it a suitable screening species in zone 6.		  
                 
 
   
This photo of Bashania fargesii does not do justice to the form and as mine matures I'll post updated pictures.