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Nandina domestica (Heavenly Bamboo) - This evergreen shrub is similar to bamboo in having vertical cane-like stems that are clothed with long leaves that are divided into many linear leaflets. It grows erectly to 6-8 feet tall and suckers from the base to become 2 to 4 feet wide. New foliage is reddish in color and during the fall the leaves turn an orange-bronze or purplish-red. Pinkish-white flowers bloom in clusters at the ends of branches in the late spring and summer.
Plant in sun or shade. Tolerates fairly dry conditions but looks better when given water occasionally. It will survive temperatures down to 10 degrees F. This is a longtime favorite landscape. It is useful in confined spaces and can be grown as a specimen plant or kept as a narrow airy screening plant, but its berries are toxic to birds that eat large quantities and to pets, and it also reseeds in some climates and has been declared an invasive weed in the southeastern US.
Nandina domestica is native to central and southern China and Japan. It is the only member of the monotypic genus with the name for the genus derived from 'Nanten', the Japanese name for the plant and the specific epithet means "cultivated", "domesticated" or "of home sites" because of its common use in the landscape. It was first imported into England in 1806 and then introduced into the US shortly after this.
The information about Nandina domestica that is displayed on this web page is based on research conducted in our nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We will also include observations made about this plant as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens that we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We also incorporate comments that we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they share cultural information that aids others growing this plant.
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