Fargesia, Blue Fountain Bamboo, Hardy Blue Bamboo 'Anceps'

This is an obsolete cultivar of a wonderful garden species.

Unlike most bamboos, which have earned a bad reputation for ru...Read Morenning aggressively, Fargesia species form clumps which expand only very slowly. No root barriers are required.

F. nitida is hardy and evergreen to Z5a, and performs best with protection from afternoon sun. It is very similar to F. murielae.

This is a wonderful species, both beautiful and well-behaved. However, this cultivar is likely extinct or moribund.

Bamboos are monocarpic---they die shortly after flowering. With bamboos, this happens only every hundred years or so, and somehow all members of a species all over the world tend to go to flower within a few years of each other. This species flowered largely between 2002 and 2008.

Currently, growers are growing the new generation from seed and will be selecting cultivars as these seedlings show their distinctive qualities.

This cultivar originated a century ago, and will be short-lived in the garden. Some nurseries may still be selling the old cultivars. Most are selling seedlings of the new generation, which should be good for another century. It pays to make sure you know which you are purchasing.