Nandina, Sacred bamboo: 5 ideas for plant pairings
Create beautiful garden settings!
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The Nandina, or Sacred Bamboo, is a remarkable small bush with many assets. It is prized for its fine evergreen foliage, which changes tone from spring red to summer green before taking on purplish or purple hues from autumn, its colours intensifying still further in winter with cold. It also offers attractive summer flowering in long panicles of white flowers, often followed by a multitude of berries, mostly bright red, which remain decorative throughout the winter. Slow-growing and relatively hardy (-12°C), it adapts to many types of soil and tolerates pollution and sea spray. A sun- or part-shade bush, its compact habit (60 cm to 2 m) makes it suitable for all gardens, and it can even be grown in a pot to adorn a terrace or balcony. All these qualities make it suitable for many plantings, from Japanese-style to contemporary, and its ornamental appeal makes it an ideal choice for compositions that look good all year round. In this article, I suggest 5 ways to pair Nandina with companion plants, creating 5 settings with different atmospheres, all equally appealing.
→ Also discover our fact sheet on planting, pruning and maintenance of Sacred Bamboo, Olivier’s video on Nandina, and our range of Nandinas domestica
Zen ambience for a Japanese-style garden
Japanese bamboo is ideal if you want to create an Asian-inspired border or instil a zen atmosphere in the garden. Nandina ‘Obsessed Seika’ is as compact (1.2 m) as it is decorative. Its fine foliage, which emerges in red tones, gradually turns green before taking on a luminous purple in autumn, which winter cold further deepens for many months. Give it a fitting setting, by pairing it with a true bamboo, such as Fargesia nitida ‘Jiu’, with culms tinged orange and plum, and which has the advantage of staying restrained, like all non-running species. Choose a Japanese maple with purple foliage, such as Acer ‘Atropurpureum’, which also lights up in autumn, and a Viburnum plicatum ‘Shasta’, valued as much for its pure white spring inflorescences, borne on branches with a tabular habit, as for its late-season colours. Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Chirimen’ is a small conifer (1 m) with slow growth and whose graphic form, reminiscent of a bonsai, adds an original note to the scene. Complete the scene with groundcover plants with decorative foliage. Stay in spirit of yin and yang by setting side by side the light, variegated foliage of some Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ and that of Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’, with an intense black. Finish by punctuating whole with clumps of Hosta ‘Fragrant Blue’, whose lush foliage, a beautiful bluish green, is adorned in summer with lavender flowers.
All that’s left is to organise a tea ceremony worthy of those held in Japanese temples…
Nandina domestica ‘Obsessed Seika’, Viburnum plicatum ‘Shasta’, Acer palmatum ‘Atropurpureum’, Ophiophogon, Hakonechloa macra (Photo: L. Enking), Chamaecyparis obtusa, Hosta ‘Fragrant’
→ Also discover our advice sheet on creating a Japanese garden, as well as 7 additional planting combinations for a zen garden.
Floral arrangement to banish the winter blues
Garden should be beautiful in all seasons, including winter! To achieve this, a few well-chosen plants can suffice. Adopt Nandina ‘Richmond’, a very fruit-bearing hermaphrodite variety. This small sacred bamboo (1.20 m), with an upright, rounded habit, produces numerous small bright-red berries that persist for much of the winter on foliage that turns orange and purple in response to the cold. Enrich the winter colour palette with coloured-wood dogwoods: bright red in Cornus alba ‘Baton Rouge’, vivid orange with Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’, and a striking yellow for Cornus sericea ‘Flaviramea’. Echo these tones with the reddish-orange berries of Pyracantha ‘Sparkler’, which stand out superbly against variegated pink winter foliage. Push your boldness further by using Bergenia ‘Eden’s Dark Margin’, an excellent groundcover whose large leaves take on purplish to iced-brown tones. Don’t forget flowering, with Hellebores, some of which flower very early, and winter-flowering heathers, such as Erica ‘Kramer’s Rote’, with numerous bright-pink bells. Presence of a small conifer, for example Pinus mugo ‘Ophir’, grounds the scene with its regular globose habit and pale green to golden foliage depending on conditions. Finally, a few clumps of Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’, with cream-and-green variegated foliage, create accents or drifts, and finish tying the plants together.
With such a composition, you will never see winter the same way again!
Nandina domestica ‘Richmond’, Cornus stolonifera ‘Flavimarea’, Pyracantha ‘Sparkler’ Helleborus ‘Double Green Spotted’, Erica x darleyensis ‘Kramer’s Rote’, Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’, Cornus ‘Baton Rouge’
→ We offer a whole series of guides to enhance your garden in winter.
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Ornamental foliage combinations
Foliage allows combinations whose decorative effect is often much more long-lasting than that provided by flowers, which are more ephemeral. To succeed with your combination, play with leaf shapes, colours and textures. Nandina domestica, besides its flowering and fruiting, also offers attractive foliage with changing hues. It is perfect alongside glossy foliage with superb green-and-yellow variegation of a Daphne ‘Rogbret’ (which also emits an unforgettable fragrance in late winter). Fatsia ‘Spider’s Web’ displays palmate foliage with an exotic look, its dark green seeming splashed with cream, thereby echoing in a way the tones of the Daphne. Also bearing large palmate leaves similar to those of a horse chestnut, Rodgersia ‘Bronze Peacock’ contrasts with deep bronze tones that develop towards reddish-purple in summer. To create a surprise, and further vary leaf forms, insert a fern such as Dryopteris erythrosora, whose fronds, cut like lace, take on distinctly orange hues at the bud burst period. The whole will stand out even more beside the lush foliage of a Colocasia ‘Black Magic’, a spectacular variety with almost-black colouring. To finish this plant tapestry, punctuate the scene with pink, deeply veined foliage of a Heuchera ‘Wild Rose’, and the grey-blue foliage of a Hosta in generous habit, such as variety ‘Krossa Regal’. All that remains is to add clumps of Carex oshimensis ‘Evercream’, whose green-and-cream foliage brings grace and elegance to the whole.
This composition will surely make you want to…leaf through your garden every day.
Nandina domestica ‘Gulf Stream’Â Fatsia ‘Spider’s Web’, Colocasia ‘Black Magic’, Carex oshimensis ‘Evercream’, Rodgersia ‘Bronze Peacock’, Daphne ‘Rogbret’, Dryopteris erythrosora
→ To find out more, we offer a selection of bushes with golden, silver-grey or variegated foliage to use in the garden and our article Nandina domestica: a reliable choice among decorative foliage plants.
Colourful autumn scene
The soft late-season light lends itself to warm hues, before the garden takes a well-deserved rest. Many plants are available to create autumn scenes that are both gentle and vibrant. This is true of sacred bamboo, one of whose dwarf varieties, ‘Flirt’, offers a slender foliage that intensifies its naturally purplish tones in the later season. Of compact, spreading habit, it naturally finds its place alongside other decorative young plants this season. Pair it with a Japanese maple such as Acer ‘Sango Kaku’, whose pink‑orange foliage stands out against coral-coloured twigs. Then turn to the wine-red tones of Euonymus planipes, which also provide a setting for superb decorative orange and pink fruits, echoing those of your Nandina. Reinforce this effect by placing a Heptacodium miconoides, whose lovely late-summer flowering transforms into calyces just as colourful as the berries of its neighbours, remaining decorative for many months. Emphasise coloured foliage with, for example, an Hydrangea ‘Snowflake’, whose oak-like leaves take on superb purple tones that accompany panicles of white to pink flowers late in the season. To add verticality and bring a great deal of lightness, insert an ornamental grass with an elegant habit and warm colours, as Miscanthus ‘Ghana’ can provide. Impossible to imagine an autumn scene without late-flowering perennials. Of course turn to the asters, which add their small star-shaped flowers to the mix. A cultivar such as Aster ‘Blue Heaven’ provides cool tones that contrast beautifully with the warm colours of its neighbours. A persicaria, such as Persicaria ‘Kabouter’, forms a tapetum wider than it is tall (30 cm x 60 cm), combining a long-lasting generous flowering and decorative foliage. Finally, a blue-foliaged conifer, such as Picea pungens ‘Waldbrunn’, can echo the flowers of the Asters, and its presence in a regular dome ensures the display all year round.
Beware, such a scene can be the start of an addiction to autumn colours you never even suspected!
Sacred bamboo, Heptacodion, Acer palmatum ‘Sangokaku’, Asters cordifolius ‘Blue Heaven’, Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Snow White’, Persicaria affinis ‘Kabouter’, Picea pungens ‘Waldrunn’
→ Find all our tips to create a beautiful autumn garden and get inspired by 7 superb autumn scenes.
Modern and graphic garden
While romantic gardens have undeniable charm, some prefer space with more graphic, contemporary lines. The Sacred bamboo ‘Filamentosa’ is an excellent candidate to lay first foundations. This compact variety, about 1 m in every direction, displays particularly fine foliage and a resolutely modern look. As with its relatives, colours evolve through seasons and are accompanied by attractive flowering and decorative fruiting. Showcase all these assets by choosing companions that are just as graphic. The Himalayan white birch provides a very classy vertical, a light shade and a famously white trunk. It then elevates plants with a globe habit and almost black foliage, such as Pittosporum ‘Tom Thumb’. Echo these dark tones through canes of Fargesia ‘Black Dragon’, a non-invasive bamboo with a graceful habit. Emphasise this play of light and shade with an architectural plant such as Acanthus ‘Whitewater’, whose large dissected foliage shows very luminous cream variegation. Its summer flowering, on long flower spikes that blend white and pink, is equally surprising. Let large round heads of ornamental alliums emerge, choosing neutral white of Allium ‘Mont Blanc’, delicate lilac of Allium decipiens or confident mauve of Allium ‘Ambassador’. To finish, rest everything on a tapetum of Carex oshimensis ‘Everest’, Perennial with fountain habit related to grasses, whose foliage variegated green and cream-white lends much elegance and refinement to composition.
Sink into a sun lounger with lines as pure as composition, and enjoy, knowing you are decidedly on-trend.
Nandina domesica ‘Filamentosa’, Pittosporum ‘Tom Thumb’, Acanthus ‘White Water’, Alliums ‘Ambassador’ (Photo: Babij), Birches, Alliums ‘Mont Blanc’, black Fargesias
→ Follow our advice to design a graphic, modern garden, and discover other plants for this style.
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