Growing guide

How to grow bamboo

Bamboos are vigorous and dramatic plants with a touch of the exotic. Their beautiful swaying canes and evergreen foliage add year-round structure and movement.

You can choose from various stem colours, heights and foliage types, and opt for spreading types or clump-formers. There are bamboos for almost every growing condition, and for gardens large or small.

Bamboos are ideal as living screens, bold focal points or ground cover. They suit tropical-style plantings, Japanese gardens, woodland areas, contemporary designs and even large containers.

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Quick facts

  • Easy to grow
  • Attractive canes with evergreen foliage
  • Vigorous and fast growing, often reaching several metres tall 
  • Best to plant in spring, in sun and moist but free-draining soil
  • Most are hardy and low maintenance
  • Make new plants by division or rhizome cuttings

All you need to know

Before you get started
Planting
Ongoing care
Pruning and training
Propagating
Problems
While we think all this information will be helpful to you, we always recommend to read the instruction labels on your plants.

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The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.