Fargesia Winter Joy - Non-running Bamboo

Fargesia Winter Joy® is a very recent non-invasive variety of bamboo that can be enjoyed even in the middle of winter. Its evergreen foliage remains very dense and its canes darken in the cold. With its beautiful vigour, changing colours of the stems, and broad light green foliage, this Fargesia quickly forms a dense clump with a graceful habit. It works well as a hedge and creates windbreak or privacy screens that are both ornamental and effective. In the ground or in pots, this robust bamboo thrives in all exposures, in a cool but well-drained soil, preferably non-chalky. Like all Fargesia, it spreads slowly over the years without ever becoming invasive.

The Fargesia Winter Joy® is a plant in the family of poaceae, a kind of woody-stemmed grass that develops from a non-invasive rhizomatous stump, called a clump-forming bamboo. In this type of bamboo, the very short internode rhizomes develop slowly at the periphery of the stump, which gradually expands, but the clump remains dense, without thinning in the centre. It is a recent Dutch horticultural creation resulting from the cross-breeding of F. murielae 'Wilson' and F. nitida. These plants, native to the Chinese mountains, have passed on their cold resistance to Winter Joy®.

Winter Joy® forms a dense clump at the base, slightly flared and arching upwards, reaching about 3m (9.8ft) in height, depending on the growing conditions. Its growth is very rapid, around 40 to 50cm (19.7in) per year at least. Eventually, the plant will spread over 1m (3.3ft) on the ground. The canes or stems are so close together that they form a very dense vertical screen, almost impenetrable. They are upright, slender, 1-2cm (0.4 - 0.8in) in diameter but sturdy. Covered with bloom and bluish-purple when young, they quickly turn more plum-coloured, then dark green with red highlights before eventually turning brown over time. The foliage is evergreen and distributed on the upper half of the plant. Particularly abundant, the leaves are quite large, lanceolate, and tapering at the tip. Their colour is a light green, with a satin finish. The oldest leaves fall throughout the year, especially in autumn.

The Fargesia Winter Joy®, splendid in winter, very dense in stems and foliage, evergreen and fast-growing, is perfect for creating a windbreak or an effective noise barrier. It can also be showcased in the garden or on the terrace, as a solitary clump or in a large pot or container. It integrates well into a shrub border with the likes of conifers, evergreen Prunus, or Japanese maples. Some perennials like tall grasses, giant cannas, and tall dahlias (Dahlia imperialis) will also be good companions for this beautiful bamboo. To add surprising foliage interest during the growing season, it can be paired with a viticella-type clematis with red flowers such as ('Madame Julia Correvon', purpurea Plena 'Elegans', 'Avant Garde'), whose stems will twine around the canes, their small leaves blending naturally into the lush vegetation of Winter Joy® bamboo.