Also known as "Sam Bamboo," Albostriata is an extremely attractive, variegated bamboo excellent for use as a groundcover, maintaining a fresh appearance throughout the year. It also makes a great house plant. The shiny, creamy yellow leaves are lined with dark green and turn more yellow in summer. In our gardens it has held its color well even through winter. We recommend an annual shearing or mowing in late winter to encourage fresh new variegated growth.

Note:  For our customers who live and garden north of USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 7a, where this Bamboo variety is not reliably winter hardy, you'll be happy to know it can be grown in containers that can be brought indoors during winter and placed back outside when temperatures warm up in spring.

Albostriata is a running bamboo, which means it spreads. Bamboo can be controlled in a small area (a normal city yard) simply by mowing or stepping on the young shoots. New shoots of some bamboo can also be used for culinary purposes and cooked, much like asparagus. Keep in mind that running bamboo only puts up new shoots for a short time each year and, when they are "shooting," the new plants are very fragile and easy to destroy. Root pruning or installing Bamboo Root Barrier are other methods to control spread.

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