Dendrocalamus validus

A rather large bamboo that portrays striking orange hues on the new culms as they emerge.  While there is not much info on the web regarding this one, supposedly it reaches heights upwards to 80 feet with a culm diameter of 8 inches.  Here in Florida is is stated it will reach a height of about 40 feet and 4 inches in diameter.  However, at Chuck Theroux’s place I swear the new shoots that were appearing in his back yard were at least 6 inches around!

I do know that this one is temperature sensitive like most Dendrocalamus bamboos, which will cause it to freeze back to the ground on those cold winter nights.  But Dendrocalamus validus is a hardy bamboo, recovering from this with no problems every time in my yard, even after some freezes of 20F!

A recent local move allowed me to place this closer to a body of water, which I’m hoping will be more like a micro climate and protect it from freezing temperatures.  If this turns out to be true then I hope to truly see just how big this thing can get!