China Gold Bamboo Bambusa eutuldoides viridi-vittata China Gold

Golden yellow culms with fine green stripes running up each internode are the reason to plant China Gold Bamboo, and the botanical name viridi-vittata, green striped, says exactly that. Placed where low morning or afternoon sun comes through the clump, the stems read as a column of yellow and green behind the leaves. It is a tall, upright plant rather than a hedge bamboo, so it belongs on a long boundary, in a big garden bed or as a feature clump at the end of a view, not in a narrow side passage.

The colour comes with a choice. The culms carry side branches well down towards the ground, which makes it a good screen but hides much of the striping. Strip the lower branches to show the culms off and you give up some cover at eye level, which you can win back by underplanting or pairing it with something denser from Privacy & Screening Plants.

Sun for colour, shelter from hot wind

Give it full sun for the strongest yellow. In heavier shade the culms turn duller, and the clump grows slower and looser. It is one of the more cold hardy clumping bamboos and takes hard frosts that would knock a tropical species back, although a young plant still benefits from some shelter through its first winter; Frost tolerant plants for cold Australian gardens covers what else will take the same winters. Hot, dry westerly winds scorch the leaf edges in inland districts, and a clump on an exposed site uses far more water than one sheltered by a building or a belt of trees.

Bamboo is a grass and drinks like one. Through spring and summer a deep soak each week, more often on an exposed site, does more than a daily sprinkle, and mulch spread thickly over the roots holds the water in. Soil should drain freely, and a heavy clay site needs mounding before planting. Allow for the clump widening every year: keep it well back from paths, slabs and pipe runs, which a clump this tall will push against as its base spreads.

Green, gold or black: the tall clumpers

If the aim is the heaviest screen at height and the stems do not matter, Bambusa oldhamii has plain green culms but more bulk at the top. For a dark contrast in a warm garden, Timor Black Bamboo has near black culms, though it is a tropical species and much less forgiving of cold. Of the three, China Gold is the one to try in a cooler district, since it handles more cold than either.

Thin the old culms to keep the stripes clean

Colour is brightest on young and middle aged culms. Older ones weather to a greyish yellow, collect lichen and lose the sharpness of the stripe, so remove a few of the oldest at ground level each winter. Take them from the side of the clump you look at most, so the youngest, brightest culms end up facing the house.

Give it a nitrogen rich feed in late spring and again in midsummer. Expect a heavier leaf drop each spring as the new leaves form; along a back boundary it can simply be left where it falls.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 2 sizes, from 300mm up to 400mm, priced from $189.00 to $619.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Every size here is established stock rather than a starter plant, so this line is intended for immediate effect rather than for growing on. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to fast growing screening plants.