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Nandina domestica

 
Nandina domestica
Leaves of perfection
heavenly bamboo
Sending forth buds in early April...
Nandina domestica
...and flowers opening two weeks later

Common name heavenly bamboo
Family berberidaceae
Life cycle shrub (Z6-9)
Flowers white (spring)
Size 3-8'
Light sun-part shade

From most reports, this is a nice shrub with a different look through the seasons. It has gotten itself onto a few invasive species lists, especially in the warmer parts of the country, but does not have a reputation for aggressively spreading itself around in Pennsylvania, where we first grew ours. Now, in Texas, it's offered by local nurseries, so it must not be considered a threat here either. We only ever had one specimen in Pennsylvania, and it really never did much of anything. Every year I'd think it had bit the dust in spring, since it is very late to leaf out. And then it just kind of sat there, as plants grew up around it and crowded it out. It was probably in the wrong spot.
We bought a new plant in Texas, which is already larger than our previous one ever got. And after the hardest freeze Houston has experienced in many years, it still held on to its leaves, looking decidedly sprightly a month later. So I think we'll get more mileage out of this plant on the Gulf Coast.

heavenly bamboo
February 2018, a month after the big freeze
Nandina domestica
Typically, just a few fruits develop from a big cluster of flowers
heavenly bamboo
Our Pennsylvania specimen, early June

In our garden, this plant grows in the following areas: back fence border, houston front yard, right-fence nursery area

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