Nandina, sometimes called Sacred Bamboo or Heavenly Bamboo, is a beautiful shrub native to Japan.
It is not at all similar to bamboo - in fact the very compact sorts can look more like Japanese maple trees – but they do suit Oriental-style gardens very well.Nandinas also suit informal flowery cottage gardens, woodland areas, formal green topiary hedges, and bright modern outdoor spaces too. No wonder Nandinas are consistently one of our most popular plants!
Colourful & Tough
Nandina plants have beautiful leaf colour, from gold through peach to plum and pink. They colour up even in shade, and in winter when little else is going on outside.
Colour will be brighter in full sun, and you’ll see the light shine through the leaves, which gives a luminous effect. You can add year-round foliage colour and interest to all areas of your garden using nandinas, with very little effort.
Nandinas are super-tough, surviving heat, and very low temperatures (though they may drop their leaves during the winter in frost zones), and they’re resistant to deer and rabbits.
Compact and low-growing, Nandinas are lovely for many locations and situations. Unclipped, they will produce white flowers and red berries loved by birds.
And if you want a more formal look to your garden, nandinas clip superbly well to a neat hedge or border.Here's some of our favourite Nandina varieties:
Blush
Small, compact, with deep red-maroon new growth from spring to autumn contrasting strongly with dark green mature leaves. The whole plant turns a glowing red-purple in winter.
A little more compact than Nana, only reaching about 70cm around, and no pruning needed. Very low maintenance, will not self-seed. Drought, cold and humidity tolerant.Brilliant red new growth matures to deep green as the foliage matures. Low-growing variety with a spreading habit to a cushion-like 40cm. Slender elongated leaves. Ideal easy-care low maintenance border plant for year-round interest.
Obsession
Improved version of Gulf Stream, grows to 70cm around. Vibrant dark red-maroon-plum new leaves all year, contrasting with the greener mature leaves towards the centre of the plant which also turn red in summer.
Also known as “Seika”, which means Sacred Fire in Japanese. The fine elegant foliage is a good substitute for Japanese acer in warm dry sites.Neat dense compact nandina that creates a gentle apple-green backdrop to showier plants in summer, then comes into its own in winter with deep red leaf colour.
Needs little to no pruning to keep a good shape.
Frost hardy, drought hardy, air-pollution hardy which is great for city gardens, with a glowing rainbow of colour through the seasons to give you lots of interest.
MoonbayOne of the taller Nandinas, to 1m in a good location. Lime green to golden apricot foliage, flushes to red new growth in winter, bringing welcome colour in the darker months.
The colour may be brighter in cooler locations. The smaller elongated leaves make it ideal for clipped topiary work and neat hedging. Nana‘Nana’ means dwarf in Latin though this tenacious, tough shrub is one of our taller cultivars and can reach 80cm. Variable shaded colour on each plant and even each leaf, from gold and orange to red, lime green, and maroon, gives a beautiful sunrise effect.
Hot and dry locations produce brighter leaf colour. The most popular widely-grown Nandina, and great value.
