This particular ornamental species is call Golden Crookstem. It is one of, if not the, favorite of mine. It goes through such a wondrous color change.
In the spring, new shoots and subsequent clums (canes) are an almost translucent light yellow. Shortly with any amount of direct sun, these clums "sunburn". Yes they turn as red as you or I (the white guy that I am) when over done in the sun.
As the summer turns to fall then to winter, the culms gradually change to yes it's name-sake, golden yellow.
Very cool. See below what I am talking about.
Another interesting feature with Golden Crookstem is that subsequent shoots and clums come up very dense...as you can see. This keeps wild boars out of your backyard...
Lastly a fun thing to watch is as the clum grows, once in a while one will bend. Within a few days it tries to re-correct to the vertical but over compensates. After about 3-4 tries it gets back on to vertical trajectory...leaving behind a "crook" stem. Funny how a play on words is sometimes as accurate as the nose on our face.
So in the next couple weeks, you should begin to see clumps of this 8th Wonder of the World appear in the circle's raised bed.
Oh you ask, what's the deal with the raised bed? This effectively allows us to see those nasty, world-takeover rhyzomes that spread bamboo to expose itself. We then simply cut that brutish beast...and we can all breathe a sigh of relief -- life will go on tomorrow.
(Click to zoom)
Phyllostachys aureosulcata "Aureocaulis"
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