No, it doesn’t. Even if winter is really cold and long, the bamboo keeps its leaves all the time. In the case of temperate bamboos, new shoots will appear after some period of rest which is called vernalization. During this time they need to get used to cold weather. In the case of tropical bamboos, the following vernalization period is not necessary as they are used to warmer weather.

Silky Terrier Dog Breed Playing Aro... Silky Terrier Dog Breed Playing Around

In the temperate zone, bamboos start growing as soon as the temperature gets a bit warmer in spring. This usually happens in May or April. The new shoots appear from rhizomes and can grow up to 2 meters in height in one season.

Do you know which bamboo is the oldest plant? It’s a clumping bamboo, Chusquea culeou. It grows on the slopes of Brazilian mountains near Rio de Janeiro. The age is estimated at up to 500 years which is most probably an underestimation. You can read the full story here.

The most popular bamboos are running bamboos with long culms that grow quickly up to 10-15 m high and 1 meter wide. Bamboo forests consist mostly of this type of bamboo as it’s easy to grow and doesn’t require much care after planting it. But it also needs fertile soil so there must be enough nutrients for its rapid growth. That’s why the ground has to be prepared very well before planting.

The most popular bamboo plant is Phyllostachys aurea which you might know as Golden bamboo or Timber bamboo. It’s a tall and robust clumping bamboo that will grow up to 25-30 m in height and 1 meter wide. This bamboo has green culms with golden stripes on the bottom half of each shoot. The leaves can get quite large, dark green, and look like small elephant ears. The new shoots come out in spring every year after the vernalization period when temperatures become warmer than 10 °C (50 °F).