My friend, the ace flower arranger, made a flamboyant holiday arrangement the other day featuring a fountain-like array of crystal vessels festooned with an extravagant amount of red-berried nandina. The whole thing turned out to be a bit over-the-top for her home décor, so she offered me the nandina. I jumped at the chance, since nandina, known as Nandina domestica to its horticulturist friends and “heavenly bamboo” or “sacred bamboo” to other admirers, is one of those plants you see in all the holiday decorating magazines. It is especially well-loved in the South, where it succeeds in landscapes to the point of invasiveness. Along with the large, glossy leaves of southern magnolia—Magnolia grandiflora— a spray of nandina berries can turn a subdued suburban mantelpiece into something artistic and opulent.
Called “nanten” in Japanese, nandina is an evergreen shrub native not only to Japan, but parts of China and India. “Nandina” is most likely a corruption of “nanten” and “domestica” means “domesticated”. In its some of its home areas, nandina has been domesticated since at least the thirteenth century. The species’ exceptional vigor, not to mention those brilliant red berries, also mark it as a member of the barberry or Berberidaceae plant family. Unlike their barberry relatives, the shrubs have no prickles and feature smallish, fine leaves and cane-like stems that have long reminded admirers of bamboo.
Because nandina so often stars in publications like Southern Living, I had always assumed that it would not survive in my USDA Zone 7 garden. I was wrong. Just as southern magnolia sometimes flourishes here, nandina can brave at least some northern winters. It is hardy from USDA zones 9 through 6, which means at least theoretically, that it can withstand winters in climates where the average annual minimum temperatures sink to zero degrees Fahrenheit. In the colder parts of its range, it is mostly likely deciduous rather than evergreen,
which may discourage gardeners who grow fancy-leaf varieties for the foliage rather than the berries.
Species nandinas—as opposed to some of the named varieties—can grow up to about eight or nine feet tall, with slender, upright stems, adorned with numerous leaflets. In spring, those same branches are home to sprays of small white flowers with prominent yellow anthers. If not snipped away by over-zealous pruners, the flowers eventually give way to dense, pyramid-shaped clusters of small, red berries. If you don’t clip them for use as holiday decorations, they are also very popular with birds and small wildlife.
Species nandina fruits best if it is grown in the company of other nandinas, a quality that enhances the shrubs’ appeal as subjects for hedging and other mass plantings. According to Roger Phillips and Martin Rix, in their indispensible book, The Botanical Garden, the Japanese have traditionally planted nandina beside doorways or under eaves to bring good luck to their houses. In fact, historically, the Japanese have been so enamored of nandina that by the end of the nineteenth century, over one hundred varieties were cultivated in that country.
Of those 100 varieties, many were grown for interesting foliage, including exceptionally narrow or twisted leaves, rather than for berries. That tradition continues. Here in the U.S., one of the most popular nandinas is a dwarf called ‘Fire Power’, which maxes out at a diminutive one to two feet tall and equally wide. The brilliance suggested by its name is due entirely to leaves that start out lime-green in spring, begin developing red tints as the season advances and don brilliant scarlet dress in the fall.
The advantage of ‘Fire Power’ and other nandinas grown for foliage is that they are less likely to be invasive than their species relations. In some parts of the deep South, Nandina domestica has escaped cultivation and populated natural areas, outcompeting native species and earning the “invasive” designation. In the colder areas of its range, north of Kentucky and North Carolina, this seems to be less of a problem.
A happy nandina enjoys warm, moist summers and full sun to part shade. Consistent moisture and well-amended soil are a must. If you are growing the fruiting types, avoid pruning until right after you have harvested all the berries that you want. Dwarf nandinas do not need much pruning at all.
My gift nandina berries are now gracing my mantelpiece, making me feel as if I am finally worthy of my Southern Living subscription. Now all I need now to enhance that worthiness and make my happiness complete is a handful of southern magnolia leaves.