Plant breeders have really done a number with heavenly bamboo. There is nothing heavenly about the little muffin-shaped Nandinas that are being planted all over Seattle in commercial landscapes and newly constructed residential developments. Luckily, the heavenly bamboo we have in the woodland garden really is heavenly, planted before the muffin bamboos were introduced (twenty+ years ago)–it has that slim, bamboo-like stature and long, graceful leaves. It looked better for us before it was competing with other plants in the same bed.
Nandina gets white flowers that aren’t showy and orange-red berries that are, but I’ve read that the berries can be toxic to songbirds so I pull them off the plant just in case.
Our heavenly bamboo shrub is nearing eight feet tall. My future plants are to strategically prune it down a bit so it will not have its canopy mingled with the maple tree it is growing next to.