Baby Panda Bamboo

Baby Panda Bamboo (Pogonatherum paniceum, also listed as P. ceylonense) gives you the look of a miniature bamboo grove at ankle height. It forms a soft arching tuft about 40cm tall and 40cm wide, with fine bright green leaves on slender canes. It is not a true bamboo but a clumping grass, which means no running rhizomes and no chasing it out of the next bed.

Why you'll love it

• Bamboo character without the risk. The fine canes and layered leaves read as bamboo, but it stays in a tight clump and never runs.
• Stays small. At 40cm each way it fits a pot, a courtyard bed or a narrow strip where a real bamboo would be absurd.
• Fills in quickly. Growth is fast for a plant this size, so a border looks established within a season.
• Happy with wet feet. It tolerates damp ground that would rot most fine leaved grasses, which makes it useful beside ponds and in poorly drained corners.

Where it works best

Borders and edging. Plant 30cm apart for a low continuous border. The clumps meet within a season and give a soft green line along a path without needing to be cut back to size.

Pots, balconies and courtyards. A pot 200mm to 300mm wide suits a single plant, and the arching habit spills over the rim. Watering is the whole job in a pot.

Indoors and mass planting. It works indoors in a bright spot, and outdoors the same 30cm spacing makes a fine textured mass planting under taller tropical foliage.

Growing baby panda bamboo in Australia

Position and climate. Part shade to filtered light gives the best colour, though it takes morning sun. It belongs in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate gardens, and it handles light frost only, so in cool or inland districts grow it in a pot you can move under cover for winter.

Soil. Any soil that holds moisture. Compost or a moisture retaining potting mix suits it better than a sandy free draining blend, and mulch keeps the root zone cool.

Water and feed. This is the one thing it insists on. Keep the soil consistently moist, checking pots daily in summer, because leaves brown at the tips within days of drying out and do not green up again. A monthly liquid feed through the warm months keeps it dense.

Pruning. Shear the clump back by about half in late winter to clear old foliage and it reshoots quickly.

What to expect when it arrives

This grass is grown as tube stock, so the plant that arrives is small: a young tuft with a handful of canes and a developing root system. Growth is quick and a tube fills a 200mm pot inside a season, but do not expect an instant clump.

The fine foliage can look flattened after transit and lifts again within days. Pot or plant it promptly and water it in well. Delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95 and a minimum order of $300 before delivery, and every plant carries our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Bamboo and bamboo look plants for the home
• Browse the full bamboo range
• Plants that do well in pots
• Plants for small gardens and courtyards

Common questions

Is it really a bamboo?

No. It is a fine leaved clumping grass that mimics bamboo at a much smaller scale, without the running habit that makes some true bamboos a problem.

Why are the tips going brown?

Almost always because it dried out, even briefly. Move it out of hot afternoon sun, mulch or repot into a moisture retaining mix, then trim the browned tips.

How far apart should I plant it for a border?

Thirty centimetres apart in a single row. At that spacing the clumps knit into a continuous low edge in one growing season without crowding each other.