Was told it was bamboo, I think it might be a vine? Help! I don't know where to plant it!

Im not sure of the name but I got some too from my friend. It looks nice but it is very invasive and will even spread into your lawn if you plant it in the ground. It can grow very large. Up to 8ft high with stalks close to an inch across. And the base will get bigger each year as new shoots comeup. I wouldnt plant it near your house as Ive heard stories of it wrecking the foundations. It would be best to keep it in a big pot, although I don't know how it would winter in the pot depending on where you live.

I dug out what I had after I found out and even still a year later I am constantly pulling out little shoots that came up from bits of the root that I missed.

Hope that helped a little anyways

It looks a bit like Japanese knotweed. If it is, don't plant it! It is completely invasive and can only be killed by several applications of Groundclear. It will even break up concrete to reach the light. Any tiny bit of living root can form a new plant. My advice is to kill the plant and then throw it in the garbage.

bxncbx said:It looks a bit like Japanese knotweed. If it is, don't plant it! It is completely invasive and can only be killed by several applications of Groundclear. It will even break up concrete to reach the light. Any tiny bit of living root can form a new plant. My advice is to kill the plant and then throw it in the garbage.

Yes! Thats the name I was thinking but it was just on the tip of my tongue.

I guess I could just eat it? Ha. Oh well, 50 cents poorly spent. Googling it, I can see how the man could confuse it with bamboo with the thick, segmented stalks. What a bummer, was hoping it might be a flowering perennial vine.

Japanese Knotweed (Reynoutria japonica)

lots of photos and one members comment.