Bamboo Garden

A year-round pleasure to visit, the Bamboo Garden makes the most of bamboos' variety of forms, stem colours and leaf shapes. Bamboos are woody grasses ranging from giant poles, through wispy variegated species, to fountains of leaves from the pendulous varieties. Some specimens hardy in the UK can reach 3 m (10 ft) high, others can be mown as lawns! Bamboos grow wild on every continent except Europe and are used for everything from food to building materials.

Over 120 individual specimens of hardy bamboo are planted here, brought together from all over the world, with specimens from China, Japan and the Himalayas, to the American continents.

Bamboo is notorious for its spreading underground roots which can become quite a problem, particularly in a small garden. To help prevent this, barriers are used within the Bamboo Garden: what first appears to be unsightly black plastic sticking above the ground is actually a well-designed barrier made from recycled rubber tyres to keep the bamboo from becoming invasive.

The Garden is arranged to maximise the aesthetics of the variety of forms and leaf shapes of the bamboos. The combination of giant pole-like bamboos, wispy variegated species and fountain-like cascades of pendulous varieties is a sight visitors find both appealing and inspiring.

Continue the tour

Back up to: Western Zone

Carry on to: Japanese Minka

See also

Kew's History & Heritage: Bamboo Garden