GARDENING : FRIENDLY, FURRY BAMBOO SURVIVES FATAL BLOOM.

It is easy to fall in love with Mexican weeping bamboo.

Seen from a distance, it appears as a large, friendly, furry green beast. Exquisitely lush, it beckons to be ogled and caressed. Up close, it has delicate leaves placed along black, arching steams, which create an atmosphere and a sentiment of deep longing; oh, how you wish you had this plant

Mexican weeping bamboo (Otatea acuminata aztecorum), has an emotional history equal to its unique presence. Several years ago, there was some fear that, overnight, it would become extinct. In order to appreciate this fear, it is necessary to understand the unusual life cycle of certain bamboos.

Bamboo plants often die once they have flowered, but without leaving viable seeds behind. Some bamboo die back only to their rhizomes - thick semi-underground bulblike organs - but some utterly self-destruct, with all rhizomes dying and no sproutable seed having been produced.

Until a few years ago, flowers had never been observed on the Mexican weeping bamboo. When it finally flowered and died - and all individuals did so simultaneously wherever they had been growing around the globe - it was feared that the seeds, which were the plant's sole remaining relics, would not germinate, making this bamboo extinct. Fortunately, the seeds sprouted.

It was my good fortune, some years ago, to make the acquaintance of James Naito, a nurseryman in Reseda. Each year, Naito grows hundreds of thousands of ornamental shrubs, vines and trees from cuttings and from seeds. Someone had procured for him a number of seeds of the Mexican weeping bamboo, which he successfully germinated. I was lucky enough to be the recipient of several of these young bamboo plants.

Immediately, I planted one of them on the south side of the Business Education Building at the West Valley Occupational Center in Woodland Hills. The exposure there is partial sun, which is the preferred ambience for many of the finer bamboos. Today, through no fault of my own, this plant has grown into a cuddly green bamboo bear which, if not actually hugged, is fondly treasured by those who have become familiar with it.

Bamboo conjures up different images, depending on your experience and knowledge of it. The young shoots of many types are a delicacy in the diet of various creatures, from pandas to people. Most bamboos come from the temperate regions of China and Japan and have excellent tolerance to cold. In certain parts of Asia, bamboo is the primary building material. The rapidity of bamboo growth - up to 4 feet in a single day - is legendary.

There are two broad categories of bamboo: running and clumping. Running bamboo can be an enormous headache, since it will spread underground and come up in places where it shouldn't. Golden bamboo (Phyllostachys aurea), misguidedly named since it leads to lawsuits and bankruptcy, cracks driveways with alacrity. You should probably be charged with a criminal offense for planting it as a hedge; you unsuspecting neighbor will undergo a lifetime of struggle keeping the golden bamboo from encroaching on his property.

Clumping bamboos - and the Mexican weeping species is an example of such - are not nearly as wayward as the running types. The clumping bamboos march along slowly and predictably; they do not suddenly send up culms (bamboo stems) in the middle of your patio as the running types have been known to do. The Japanese garden at the Tillman Water Reclamation Facility in the Sepulveda Basin is the best local site for viewing a variety of bamboos, from 20-foot punting pole specimens to a pygmy bamboo, which is used as a ground cover.

Ask your nursery to special-order some of the more unusual bamboos. Alternatively, you might contact Exotic Rare Fruit Nursery, a grower and supplier of bamboos, located in Vista, at [phone].

Gardening tip: For a change of pace in container planting, consider bamboo. The large-stemmed and the arching bamboos have geometrical and sculptural qualities not found in any other plants.

MEMO: Joshua Siskin's column appears every Saturday. He welcomes questions from readers. Write to him in care of the Daily News Features Department, P.O. Box 4200, Woodland Hills, Calif. 91365-4200. You can also reach him through this on-line mailbox: JoshSiskinaol.com. Topics of general interest will be discussed in the column.