Bamboo makes great landscaping plants and living fences, but homeowners need to remember to maintain their bamboo to prevent it from growing rampant.

Instant Jungle loves bamboo, especially the versatility of the plant and its uniqueness in growth and color pattern formations.  We are a strong advocate in creatively using bamboo to landscape exteriors; for example, we love that bamboo can be used as an eco-friendly living fence that not only gives homeowners privacy but also looks stunning in backyards.  Though beautiful, many people assume that bamboo can be a tricky plant to maintain, and if not watched over carefully can run rampant and proliferate all throughout your backyard! This is a myth: bamboo is actually quite easy to contain.

Bamboo species can be split into two main categories: clumpers or runners.  The latter is the type that people have to be careful of when growing; runner bamboo types proliferate by rhizomes, root-like stems that grow underground and feed up new shoots and which can proliferate within dozens of feet from its original planting site.   If owners do not tend to their runner bamboo, the plant will grow out of control.

For homeowners using bamboo as a living fence, this poses a slight problem.  In order to control running bamboo from running into neighbors’ backyards, homeowners must tend to their bamboo yearly.  The simplest way to control running bamboo is to cut off unwanted shoots every spring season.  This is only a temporary solution, as bamboo grows through its underground rhizomes.  Removing any rhizomes that stray away from the contained area will make it easier to prevent unwanted bamboo from popping up in different areas.

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