Having a go at sorting my inherited mess of a garden and am planning on stripping it back to square one and planting bamboo and various architectural grasses in bulk.

Local garden centres seem to want £45/£50 for one large pot of fairly whispy bamboo, which would have me spending a grand before I even scratch the surface. Ideally I want bamboos of varying heights and clump forming. I’ll steer clear of the spread-like-wildfire stuff.

Is there a source for this stuff that will be better value and won’t line Mr Homebase’s pockets?

There’s an obvious gap in the market here for a company with a well-stocked bamboo plantation to offer a pick-your-own service.

I’d call it Wop Bop A Loo Bop I Lop Bamboo.

Try the Big Plant nursery in Ashington, W. Sussex, they seem to specialise in this sort of thing. No idea where you are in the world but well worth a visit and the people there are extremely helpful and happy to discuss ideas. Independent and family run.

Amazingly, I’m about 5 miles from Ashington

Be VERY careful and make sure you buy the right type of bamboo. Running bamboo is a nightmare and will take over everywhere unless properly constrained (deep solid wall around it). You really really don’t want that getting hold in a garden.

As above be very careful getting the right bamboo don’t just take what the garden center etc say.
One of my customers got the wrong stuff it and has got everywhere.

I had to do 2 bamboo removal jobs last year, had to get a mini digger in to remove one of them. I no longer deal with it way too much hassle.

Our neighbours have bamboo, which means we have it to. Horrid stuff, seems to be resistant to most weed killers. The only way to remove is to physically dig it out, including a 4 metre trench across the lawn to get rid of it.

It is not a suitable plant for a garden in the UK

I’ve just been spraying off some decorative grass, it’s spread like **** and it’s proving hard to get rid of.

Keep it in pots would be my suggestion.

Bamboo is cool, I’ve grown some giant stuff (madake or “timber bamboo”) from seed I bought on ebay. Not dared to plant it out yet but it’s looking pretty robust in a pot 🙂 Don’t expect it will get to the full 20 metre height in the UK anyway.