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Himalayacalamus hookerianus 'Teague's Blue' (Blue Bamboo) - This is a robust selection of Blue Bamboo. It forms an attractive clump of upright 1-inch-wide culms to 15-20+ feet tall with 6 inch long dark green leaves that dangle gracefully. The newly emerging culms are a glaucous blue; this color is retained at the base as the culms age to an olive green. In sunny locations the culms take on a reddish cast on the side facing the sun.
Plant in morning sun or light shade in Southern California to full sun further north and irrigate regularly to occasionally. Hardy to 15 degrees F. Great for a hedge planting or for large containers. It appears to be especially attractive to gophers, so wire basket protection is advised.
Most clones of Himalayacalamus hookerianus in cultivation flowered continuously through the 1990's and produced an abundance of seedlings that remained smaller than the parent. In addition, there were seedlings such as this selection, made by San Diego horticulturist, the late Bill Teague, that are more robust. Some contend that this plant is no different than the original Blue Bamboo but we do believe it is different. We make this statement based on seeing 'Teague's Blue' in the Berkeley, CA garden of artist Marcia Donahue and noted that it was notably larger than her plant of the species, which in itself was a nice form of the Blue Bamboo. Since there is considerable variability in these seedling plants we feel that it is important that this robust selection be named to distinguish it from others. At the time we were growing three forms: this robust 'Teague's Blue' and one which we simply labeled as Himalayacalamus hookerianus and the third a dwarf selection we called Himalayacalamus hookerianus 'Baby Blue'.
Himalayacalamus hookerianus was more commonly sold in the U.S. as Drepanostachyum falcatum but plants in cultivation in the U.S. were determined to be Himalayacalamus hookerianus by Kew botanist Chris Stapleton. To confuse matters even more the Candy Stripe Bamboo often sold as Drepanostachyum hookerianum turned out to be Himalayacalamus falconeri 'Damarapa'.
The name for the genus combines the regional reference to the Himalayas with the Greek word 'kalamus' meaning "reed" in reference to the plants in the genus coming from lower altitudes of the Himalaya in Bhutan, Tibet, India, and Nepal and the specific epithet honors the English botanist and Kew Garden Director Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817–1911). We grew this seedling selection from 2007 until 2013.
This information about Himalayacalamus hookerianus 'Teague's Blue' displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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