A red bamboo

[Gbarce]

I bought this "red bamboo" but really don't know much about it.

Does anyone recognize this species/cultivar?

[Gbarce]

Here is a close up of the stems- it looks variegated and they do look a bit red but how intensely red does it get?

Can this take ful sun? Does it need cold temps to develop color?

[ariscott]

Most bamboo can take full sun.... actually I haven't found one that can't take full sun. So you will be ok. As far as the species goes... I am not quite sure... It looks quite nice.

Regards, Ari

Edited April 13, 2011 by ariscott

[Gbarce]

These things have been ridiculously priced the past few years--something like P10,000 ( a little over US$200) per stick/shoot. But knowing how fast bamboos grow I knew that the prices would eventually drop dramatically and it did.

In the mean time I have been reading up on it and these red bamboos all come from the coldest parts of China. They apparently do well in Canada too so they seem to really love the cold. The ones sold over here though are never as red as the ones I see in photos on the internet so I am wondering the cold temperatures are requirement to get the intense red stems.

Any bamboo experts out there that can shed some light on this?