So why the attraction to this over other species of Bamboo? After all we have over 100 species to choose from.  10 years ago no one knew about Gracilis and other species were the big sellers.

First of all is its climatic range and general hardiness , it grows almost everywhere , being tolerant of heat and the coldest of Winters. Gracilis is also very drought hardy which is important for low maintenance gardens. Gracilis has no pests or diseases and grows well for even the most inexperienced gardeners. It also seems quite OK in coastal locations .

Next reason for this plants popularity is its beautiful upright habit . It has the most vertical form of all the bamboos.  So you get maximum height and screening without losing too much of your backyard space.

Gracilis is adaptable.  It can be planted into smaller spaces where nothing else will fit and with its vigour and upright habit will still reward you with generous growth.  We have seen 200mm pot sized plants squeezed into a 200mm gap between a driveway and a fence and the plants still grew to 4 metres tall and looked fantastic.  Most people plant it along a fenceline for a super fast neighbour break!  (we hear some horror stories about neighbours, it seems not all of them are kind , quiet and considerate).   The rule of thumb generally applied to spacing is one plant per metre , at this spacing plants will grow into each other quickly forming a continuous line of upright culms (poles).  This is really an economical solution when you consider that the cheapest of fences cost about $120 per linear  metre , look ugly and don’t really do much to improve privacy.   Also timber fences will never look better than the day they are installed and start to deteriorate from that day onwards.  Gracilis  Bamboo can cost just $29 per metre (+gst) and only improve with age getting thicker and lusher and enhancing the environment and improving the quality of the air you breathe (remind me to put the price up, hahaha!).

At 6-8 metres tall Gracilis is the best Bamboo to screen out a 2 storey building next door. Gracilis is evergreen with no yellow foliage over winter. I often describe its appearance as like roll out bamboo fencing , but alive .

So, how fast for the desired results?  Here on the farm when I plant one single pole in a  200mm pot into the ground in Spring by the same time next year I’ll usually have a plant 3-4 metres tall with 10 -15 culms each.

12 months growth from very little to 3-4 metres is impressive.  Next year the same plant will be a 5 metre plant with 25 or so culms.  These results can be improved by starting with a larger plant  eg. a 400mm should give good privacy within 12 months.  As with all Bamboos the best treatment is plenty of water during the summer months (growing season) and a good heavy layer of mulch to suppress competitive grasses at planting time.  Any high nitrogen fertiliser is good.  Not too much on young plants , read your labels  and apply appropriately.

The current trend in housing seems to be ever smaller house blocks or units with people living in closer  proximity. Our clumping bamboos are proving to be the ultimate solution for giving people back some instant privacy and fast  growing greenery.

**QUEENSLAND**

For Brisbane & surrounds  -  we have trucks leave Bamboos Wholesale once a week on Wednesday for deliveries into the greater Brisbane area on the following day.   Minimum freight delivered to your door is $70.00 (for up to 35 x 200mm pots or 21 x 250mm or 14 x 300mm pots or 3 x 400mm pots).   We have trucks leave Bamboos Wholesale once a week on Fridays for pick up from the depot at Heathwood in Brisbane on Mondays.   Mininum freight for pick up at the depot is $21.58 (up to 18 x 200mm pots).  

Gold Coast -   we have trucks leave Bamboos Wholesale once a week on Wednesdays  for deliveries to Gold Coast areas on Thursdays/Fridays.  Minimum freight delivered to your door is $70.00.(for up to 35 x 200mm pots or 21 x 250mm or 14 x 300mm pots or 3 x 400mm pots).       We have trucks leave Bamboos Wholesale once a week on Fridays for pick up from the depot at Heathwood in Brisbane on Mondays.   Mininum freight for pick up at the depot is $21.58.(up to 18 x 200mm pots).  

Sunshine Coast – we have trucks leave Bamboos Wholesale once a week on Wednesdays  for deliveries to Sunshine Coast areas on Thursdays/Fridays.  Minimum freight delivered to your door is $70.00. for up to 35 x 200mm pots or 21 x 250mm or 14 x 300mm pots or 3 x 400mm pots.

Toowoomba/Dalby – we have trucks leave Bamboos Wholesale once a week on Wednesdays  for deliveries to Toowoomba areas during the following week.   Minimum freight delivered to your door is $95.  (for up to 35 x 200mm pots or 21 x 250mm or 14 x 300mm pots or 3 x 400mm pots)

Central & Northern Queensland – we have trucks leave Bamboos Wholesale once a week.   Please contact us for a freight quote on your requirements.

Other Areas – Please contact us for a freight quote on your requirements.. 

**NEW SOUTH WALES**

We have weekly deliveries into NSW, trucks leave Brisbane depot on Mondays.  Minimum freight is approx $195 delivered to your door.   

**VICTORIA**

We have weekly deliveries into Victoria, trucks leave Brisbane depot on Mondays.  Minimum freight is approx $295 delivered to your door. 

**SOUTH AUSTRALIA**

We have weekly deliveries into South Australia, trucks leave Brisbane depot on Fridays.  Minimum freight is approx $250 delivered to your door. 

Unfortunately due to quarantine laws in N.T, TAS & W.A we are restricted by what we are able to send to these areas.   It is only viable for us to send to these areas for large quantities where it is viable for the customer to meet AQIS inspection costs.

Currently we have a special on our 100Lt  Bambusa textilis ‘Gracilis’ stock.

Usually $275 ea + GST now just $220 ea + GST !  That’s a huge saving of  20% off!!

Plants are approx 6-7 m tall with 6 to 8 culms per bag.

Contact us now at sales@bamboos.com.au or on (07)49750343 to take advantage of these never to be repeated prices.

TIGER GRASS

Also on special is our 200mm Tiger Grass.

The plants have been propagated via division off mature clumps and are NOT the inferior seedling grown Tiger Grass that many stockists sell.

200mm Tiger Grass are reduced to $10 ea + GST for purchases of 50 or more.   The 200mm plants are approx 1m tall with 3-4 sticks per pot.

Contact us now at sales@bamboos.com.au or on (07)49750343 to take advantage of these never to be repeated prices.

GHOST BAMBOO

New on special is our 400mm Ghost Bamboo.   Usually $135 ea + GST, now just $100 ea + GST.

Plants are a huge 4m tall with 4+ culms per pot.  If you are after a more instant effect, these are the largest 400mm pots we have in stock.

Contact us now at sales@bamboos.com.au or on (07)49750343 to take advantage of these never to be repeated prices.

Yes!  We can arrange delivery throughout most parts of Queensland, NSW, Victoria and S.A.  Quarantine restrictions limit delivery to N.T, Tasmania & W.A. so please contact us on a case by case basis for orders to these states. 

HOW MUCH DOES FREIGHT COST? 

Freight is calculated on a per pallet/part pallet rate so we will need details of the number of plants along with the  pot size you require and your delivery address to provide a full and accurate quote on shipping for you.  

If you are located in Brisbane and able to collect the plants from the depot at Heathwood (just off the Logan Motorway) freight can be arranged at a greatly reduced price.  

CAN I GET A QUOTE?

We are more than happy to prepare quotes so feel free to contact us with your requirements at anytime.    We will require the species, pot size and number of plants you require along with your delivery address details to provide a full quote including delivery for you.

HOW DO I PLACE AN ORDER?

Simply email your order through our Contact Us page or to sales@bamboos.com.au ; or phone (07) 4975 0343 or fax  (07) 4975 0022 through an order.  We will get back to you with an Invoice and payment details and arrange for your plants to be shipped on our next available truck or at your request if delivery is required at a future date. 

HOW SOON AFTER ORDERING CAN I EXPECT DELIVERY?

We have trucks run to south to Brisbane/Gold Coast/Sunshine Coast once a week so delivery to these areas is within a matter of days of confirmation of your order.   Connecting trucks to NSW, Victoria & SA  run weekly on Mondays,  and Fridays respectively so turnaround is usually within a maximum of 7-10 days.   We also have trucks running to Queensland centres north of us each Tuesday on a weekly basis.    

DO DISCOUNTS APPLY FOR LARGER ORDERS?

The prices on our website are our Wholesale prices and generally there is not much room for further discount.  However, if you have a particularly large order we may be able to negotiate a lower price for you so please feel free to request a quote.  We will also advise you if we have any special deals running on any of our species. 

WHAT ARE THE BEST SPECIES FOR PRIVACY SCREENING?

By far our best seller for two storey privacy screening is Bambusa textilis ‘Gracilis’.  It creates a dense, upright screen to 6-8 m tall.  It is very compact, does not lean into the garden space and is lush & evergreen.  It is also a very hardy bamboo that will grow Australia wide.

For single storey screening our most popular species are Chinese Dwarf, Variegated Malay Dwarf and Tiger Grass.  These species get to 2-4m tall and form lovely uniform hedges.  

Of course most clumping bamboo will offer privacy screening and it really comes down to a matter of personal preference regarding the look you wish to achieve and the overall height you require.    Beautiful ornamental privacy screens can be created with Timor Black, Ghost Bamboo & Giant Buddha’s Belly and of course the Bambusa multiplex species form great hedges, although most of the multiplex species we do not recommend for Queensland due to them being prone to mealy bug infestation in our warmer climate. 

Click on our “Screening” tab for a full list of the best screening species, with photos etc to help you decide which plant is best for you.

WHAT PLANT SPACING IS RECOMMENDED FOR PRIVACY SCREENING?

We usually suggest planting at 1m to 1.5m spacing to achieve a nice dense privacy screen as the plants mature and grow into each other.   By planting at closer intervals you can restrict the overall height the plants achieve, which is a useful tip if for example you love the look of Timor Black (8-10m tall)  but only require a plant that reaches say 6-8m tall, by planting at 0.5m spacing you will restrict the root ball size and therefore the overall height of the plant.

IS BAMBOO INVASIVE?

Bamboos Wholesale only grows & sells clumping, non-invasive (Sympodial) bamboo species.   We do not stock any running, invasive species so you can have peace of mind that when you purchase from us you will never receive an invasive species.   

WILL BAMBOO SURVIVE HAPPILY IN POTS?

Clumping bamboo will survive in pots however keep in mind that the water requirements of potted plants is far greater than those planted in the ground.  Also you will not achieve the phenomenal growth rates bamboo is renowned for when plants are restricted to pots.   It is however a wonderful plant to keep in pots for privacy on balconies, around pools, in courtyards and in high density housing areas where there is not sufficient room available for extensive landscaping.

There is much confusion created by the vague common names of Giant Buddha’s Belly & Buddha’s Belly given to the two Buddha Belly species of Bamboo. And one popular myth I’d like to address here.

Firstly we have Bambusa vulgaris ‘Wamin’ or Giant Buddha’s Belly. This is the one we most commonly recommend for gardens, whilst the Bambusa ventricosa is often named small Buddha’s Belly. Why would we recommend a “Giant” Bamboo for gardens you ask ?  The basic truth is that the word “Giant” actually refers to the belly size and not the plants overall size. The B. vulgaris ‘Wamin’ culms can easily get to 120mm diameter due to the very bellied habit of this plant. The larger the belly the shorter the plants overall height as it is only the bellying that keeps the plant short. I have seen a few clump of Giant Buddha’s Belly over the years that were quite un-bellied and these reached an easy 12 metres tall as the space between each node was greatly extended from the bellied form, and almost unrecognizable as Wamin.

Why would this happen? Traditional Bamboo belief is it is related to conditions and where the plant is grown, how much stress the plant is under etc. with the general opinion being the more stress the more bellied the plant. My opinion on this is (sorry to the purists) “BULL”, or at best, conditions affect the plants belly shape only slightly.

I have grown beautifully bellied culms under perfect conditions with lots of water and fertilizer and I have had absolutely zero bellies on plants grown in “harsher than any plant should be subjected to” conditions i.e. pot-bound on a hot concrete slab for a few years with rainfall (and not much of it) only for water.

So if not conditions, what is the trick to obtaining nice bellys on these plants? My opinion is BREEDING. If I have a clump of Buddhas in my garden and it produces 10 culms and needs a thin out and 5 of the culms look great and nicely bellied while the remaining culms are not quite so well shaped, which ones do I cut out?  I leave the best culms in the clump and get rid of the less bellied ones to maintain my parent clump in the best condition. Now if I was to believe that “conditions create the bellied culms“, I would feel no problem at all to put all those removed straight culms into propagation material (no one likes to waste any Bamboo propagation material especially a nursery). As I don’t buy into this theory, I ensure that all unbellied material that is removed from plants is placed on the fire heap and NEVER used for propagation material.   Propagating from straight culms would be the first step away from producing a nice bellied form of Buddha Belly.  However if propagation is taking place with unbellied culms by suppliers, soon we have un-bellied Buddhas being sold as plants that will only reach 4-5 metres tall when in fact the unbellied plants will get a lot larger than this and be messy and ugly too!

The Bambusa ventricosa taught me this. While they make an excellent potted plant we don’t suggest planting these out just yet as I believe the Belly feature of this plant to be quite unstable.

If I take 10 beautiful nicely bellied plants from my nursery and plant them out I find that 5 will develop nice compact plants to 2-3 metres tall and that’s great. The remaining 5 plants will revert back to an ugly green and rather massive tangled bamboo plant to 10 metres or more in height- certainly not what anyone I know wants!  Note that these plants are all given identical treatment yet some belly and some don’t, its all in the breeding people. When I can get the belly feature to stabilize or get hold of a more stable clone of ventricosa I think it will be a great garden plant.

Further evidence exists for ventricosa in the form of Bambusa ventricosa “kimmei” the golden form. While some bellied forms do exist I’m yet to see one in Australia and while it’s been very easy to find the plant for sale, I am yet to find a grower who can promise me nice bellied culms. The un-bellied upright form of this plant is quite a good plant but “Buddha Belly”, it is not.

No doubt it will delight someone to go out and prove me wrong on some of these points but to date this has been my experience with these 2 species. But hey, when we call ourselves experts we stop growing don’t we? 

• “How to buy Bamboo Plants“ is our first bamboo article that answers one of the more frequent questions we receive. 
• “Buddhas Belly Bamboo Explained” – our view on belly formation in the Bambusa species

If you would like us to provide an information article on a specific bamboo plant or topic, please contact us.

The next thing to do is find and review any comments people have made about various growers, plants and service. Unfortunately, some people have had negative experiences when buying Bamboo plants online, so it is a good idea to look for positive references and to see how long the business has been operating.

Once you are happy that you are in the right place, you can request a quote for the plants you are interested in. When doing this you will need to give plant species, pot/bag size e.g. 300mm pots and a delivery address so we can get an exact freight quote for plants to be delivered to the job. We have trucks leaving two or three times per week and most deliveries can be made within a day or two. If you are in Brisbane, we can usually get plants to you overnight and for much less freight costs than you would expect. If you are able to pick up from a transport company depot, the freight will be greatly reduced again.

For example, one full pallet of Bamboo plants in 200mm pots (that is about 75 plants) will cost you just over $80.00 if you pick up at the transport depot compared to about $140 if delivered to your door. These prices are from our nursery to Brisbane.  Prices for delivery to Sydney and Melbourne will be more expensive, but still great value.

You will find that when dealing with a wholesale Bamboo nursery, minimum quantity orders will apply as freight is simply not viable for a small number of plants.

The wholesale Bamboo nursery will use only specialized freight companies and plants will be treated with wetting agents and given a thorough watering before loading onto transport so you can be assured of your quality Bamboo plants arriving safely at your door. This is especially so when the wholesale nursery export bamboo plants to overseas customers to meet the strict export quarantine requirements.

Tamiang – Schizostachyum Tamiang

	Genus/Species	Schizostachyum sp Murray Island
	Common Name	Murray Island
	Typical Dimensions	3m high, culm diameter up to 20mm. -2 °c
	Description	A smaller species native to the Torres Strait Islands.   Murray Island grows quite well in Queensland, sometimes described as growing up to 5m high or more however Im yet to see one larger than 3m making this a great plant for smaller spaces.

Murray Island – Schizostachyum sp Murray Island

Blow Pipe – Schizostachyum jaculans