The Arudinaria are plants also known as river cane, or cane, and Arudinaria Giantea is , as the name implies a cane which grows so large that it is often confused with an exotic breed of bamboo. The plant is, in fact, a member of the bamboo family, but is native to the new world only. Arudinarea Giantea sends up woody trunks which can reach heights in excess of twenty five feet, which must be pruned back if the plant is to be reared in and enclosed area.
While many people think of canes and bamboo in general as trees due to their size, the truth is that all canes and bamboo are, in fact, members of the grass family. It is due to their status as grasses that the canes owe their rapid rate of growth and their robust nature.
In the wild stands of this cane can be found along riverbanks, marshes, and swampy areas from New Jersey south to Florida and grows as far west as Ohio and Texas. The canes are important to the ecology of wetlands because of the shelter and food that they provide to many forms of wildlife, as well as their ability to prevent land loss due to erosion. These hearty plants once covered millions of acres of bottomland, but due to fires and clearing for agriculture and settlement the canebreaks now cover only the barest fraction of their original size and mostly in the southern states.
The Arunidaria are prized for their ornamental qualities in that they are fast growing and provide easy to care for privacy hedges and windbreaks. The cane grows very well in soil where the high moisture content inhibits the growth of more conventional foliage. Arudinaria generally spreads quickly by woody rhizomes which run along the ground and send up new shoots. The plant flowers into beautiful white blooms, but seeds only occasionally after which the colony usually dies out and is replaced quickly by seedlings.
In order to obtain Arudinaria Giantea for cultivation and landscaping it is possible to transplant it from wild stands if they are available. Perhaps the best option though, is to simply purchase the plant form a highly reputable mail order, or online, plant nursery. Check out www.dntnursery.com
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