Northwest Blooms · Perennials
Sasa veitchii
Kuma Bamboo Grass
- Family
- Poaceae
- Height
- 24 to 36 inches
- Width
- 36 to 72 inches
- Flower color
- Insignificant greenish flowers rarely produced
- Foliage color
- Broad glossy green leaves developing distinctive creamy white margins in winter
- Bloom time
- Rare and unpredictable flowering
- Light
- Full sun to full shade
- Water
- Moderate
- Maintenance
- Moderate; older canes can be cut back in late winter to refresh foliage
- Growing zone
- USDA zones 6 to 9
- Wildlife
- Provides shelter for small wildlife and birds
About this plant
Sasa veitchii carries broad, glossy green leaves with a smooth surface and bold parallel veining that creates a lush, layered canopy close to the ground. As winter approaches, the leaf margins develop narrow bands of creamy white that frame each blade with a clear outline. Flowering is infrequent and unpredictable, but when it occurs, slender stems produce small, grasslike blooms during summer before returning to vegetative growth.
Native to mountain forests of Japan, this bamboo spreads by rhizomes and forms dense colonies. In gardens it is used as a groundcover beneath trees, along shaded paths, or as a bold textural layer in woodland plantings.
Works well in
Borders · Cottage Gardens · Bird Gardens · Cut Flower Gardens
Companion plants
Ferns · Astilbes · Foxgloves · Bergenias · Sedums · Columbines
Design tip
Foliage and form do most of the work here, so lean on texture and repetition rather than one flowering moment. It takes sun or light shade, which makes it useful along the changing light of a bed edge or a partly shaded border.
