Heavenly Bamboo
Nandina domestica
Grown for its autumn color, which only comes with sun — in deep shade it stays green and dull.
- Type
- Shrub · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Foliage color
- Green · Bronze, red and brown
- Flower color
- Red
- Sunlight
- Full sun to partial shade.
- Watering
- Moderate watering, in soil that stays moist but drains freely.
- Feeding
- A slow-release fertilizer in spring.
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Flowering
- June
- Pruning
- Take out the oldest stems in spring.
- Overwintering
- Hardy to -15°C; give containers and young plants cover.
- Mar–Apr Bud Break
- Apr–Jun Spring Growth
- Jun–Oct Flowering
- Oct–Dec Growing
- Jan–Mar Growing
- Plant spacing
- 3 ft 3 in
- In-row spacing
- 3 ft 3 in
- Between rows
- 4 ft 1 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
- Root system
- Woody and fibrous
- Working depth
- 12–24 in
- Can reach
- 3 ft down where the soil allows
- Spread
- 5–6.5 ft across, about 1.5–2× the width of the plant
- Shallowest pot
- 20 in of soil
A shallow woody framework with the fine feeding roots in the leaf litter above it. Those feeders are mostly under the outer half of the canopy rather than against the stem, which is where water and feed should go.
It suckers from the base into a clump of canes, and the way to renew it is to cut a third of those canes to the ground each year rather than shearing the top.
The habit is Heavenly Bamboo’s own; the figures are what that habit usually comes to at this size, not a measurement of this species. Roots follow the soil either way: a compacted pan, a high water table or heavy clay stops them well short of any of it, and deep open ground lets them go further.
- Cats and dogs
- Recorded toxic
Recorded as toxic to cats and dogs by ASPCA.
Exact species match, toxic to dogs, cats and horses.
- Frost damage Frost damage to new growth in exposed spots
- Poor autumn color where the shade is too deep
- Leaf scorch on cold, windy sites
Shrubs, like this one.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com