Alphonse Karr

Alphonse Karr is a popular ornamental clumping bamboo (Bambusa) grown for its bright golden-yellow culms streaked with irregular green vertical stripes, the new shoots often flushed pink and reddening in full sun. A dense, upright hedge bamboo clothed in fine green foliage, it forms a tight non-invasive clump that needs no rhizome barrier. Hardy to roughly USDA zone 7b to 8, it takes full sun to part shade. Thin the older canes to show off the colorful culms and keep the clump handsome.