Heavenly Bamboo Firepower

Not in fact a bamboo but part of the berberis family, Nandina domestica Firepower is a dwarf, brilliantly coloured cultivar of a species often planted outside Japanese doors as a symbol of welcome – and for use as toothpicks. It’s a small, very decorative, evergreen shrub with an upright, bushy habit and rather bamboo-like stems, and is easily grown in pots. The triple-divided leaves on slender stems emerge red, then turn yellowish-green before turning brilliant shades of red and orange in autumn and winter. In favourable conditions, heavenly bamboo Firepower bears loose conical panicles of little, starry, creamy-white flowers in July and August, followed by masses of shiny, red berries, but in the Irish climate this happens rarely, unless the plant is grown in a conservatory, porch or greenhouse. May suffer some frost damage, unless brought under cover in winter.