Nandina domesticaLatin nameHeavenly bambooEvergreen or semi-deciduous...

Nandina domestica

Latin name

Heavenly bamboo

Evergreen or semi-deciduous shrub.

It’s not a bamboo at all, but nandina has the same exotic, airy, upright look as those non-relatives. Unlike most bamboos, nandina doesn’t loom or invade, and it can be used in almost any setting.

It’s a favorite in Japanese-style gardens, lending elegant tracery to a spare, controlled design, but it’s also just as effective next to a pink stucco bungalow, a redwood chalet or a farmhouse. Grouped with other plants having similar light and soil requirements (many landscape designers seem to favor Pittosporum tobira, “Variegata,” as a faithful companion), nandina provides a neat, upright contrast to rounder, spreading shrubs.

At the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, there is a 6-foot hedge of nandina (just about the upper limit of its growth) on a small slope outside the Japanese garden; it is dense enough to discourage all but the tiniest creatures, but the effect is not that of a wall; this nandina is more like a lace curtain obscuring the view to the next room.

If nandina’s upright growth and delicate leaves don’t impress you, consider this: Some varieties of nandina have leaves that turn red in autumn, and the plant’s pretty white flowers are followed in winter by cheerful red berries that linger for a long time.

Full sun is likely to bring out brighter leaf color (so will a light frost) but the plants need protection from glare in hot desert areas. Nandina likes plenty of water and a rich soil and will tolerate some drought once it is established. It is one of few plants resistant to oak-root fungus, a disease that often infects over-watered live oak trees.

Several dwarf forms of nandina are available: “Compacta,” “Nana Purpurea,” “Nana Compacta” and “Pygmaea,” to name just four, make fine border plants or small hedges and look particularly good in front of the taller nandina. Almost any place you want to put it, nandina will enhance but not overwhelm. It’s the perfect guest.