Some bamboo pics

Connie and I took a walk the other day and I had my Panasonic Lumix with me. Took some pics of a couple of the bamboo groves.

I think a lot of small animals use the bamboo in one way or another. Birds building nests at the top of the bamboo would likely be completely safe from predators as they could not climb up those poles to get at the eggs or young.

Looks like some birds have created nesting cavities in some of the bamboo using a more direct route, and I'm sure lizards and tree frogs will hole up in the old split bamboo.

So cool! I wish we could grow bamboo around here. I doubt they would survive Ohio winters.

Originally Posted by Dragonling

So cool! I wish we could grow bamboo around here. I doubt they would survive Ohio winters.

You might be surprised....

http://www.bamboogarden.com/cold%20hardy%20bamboo.html

There's a bamboo nursery in Punta Gorda. I think it's right off Burnt Store Road. I never stopped in since my lot is small and I don't have much room for bamboo. But I heard that they have awesome varieties. Have you ever been there?

Originally Posted by Twolunger

There's a bamboo nursery in Punta Gorda. I think it's right off Burnt Store Road. I never stopped in since my lot is small and I don't have much room for bamboo. But I heard that they have awesome varieties. Have you ever been there?

Not that I can recall.

Even with a small lot you could get some pretty impressive clumping types of bamboo that do not spread rapidly, yet still get quite large culms on them.

I've got a few clumping types planted here, one of which is actually getting some size to it since it overwintered very well the past couple of years. If it can reach it's full potential, it will get VERY large, as the guy I bought it from in Tampa had some enormous culms in his back yard.

There are some smaller clumping types in the Bambusa multiplex family that don't get real big, but will make great visual barriers if you plant the individual plants fairly close together. We have two sections here which haven't hardly spread at all since we put them in the ground around 20 years ago.

My brother said they sell some clumping varieties that don't spread and don't get too tall. I think I'll concentrate on a tangerine first. I'm getting old and want to be around to taste the first fruit. LOL.

I wish my neighbor had planted that kind! He planted some super-thick relatively small running bamboo, which invades my hard. Makes a great year-round privacy screen. The dogs love playing with stalks.

Rich, I know I've asked you this before; have you been to kanapaha to see the bamboo??

For those who grew up in the north it is a real learning curve to decide what to plant down here. There's what is called a " learning garden " in my area that has many flowers, bushes, and trees planted along with their common and scientific names. I saw a beautiful flowering succulent growing there and noticed one seedling growing in the stone walkway so plucked it out and brought it home. It grew and flowered the second year and produced thousands of seeds, all of which sprouted. I've been plucking them out, spraying them with weed killer, and they still keep coming. I've found them growing on the vacant lot next to me, so have been spraying them too. My wife said if I hadn't tried saving that seedling none of this would have happened. LOL.

Originally Posted by Nanci

Rich, I know I've asked you this before; have you been to kanapaha to see the bamboo??

Yes been there a couple of times but quite a long time ago. Bought some of the black bamboo from them, but it's not doing too well. I think it is just too warm here for it to thrive well. I also tried several sections of the Moso bamboo, but none of them survived. One started off doing real well, but in a few years just went downhill rapidly.

I also bought the "crookstem" bamboo from them, if I recall correctly. It is doing real well, and got larger than I expected it to.

BTW, the BIG bamboo in my photos is Phyllostachys vivax. The yellow bamboo is the "Robert Young" cultivar of Phyllostachys viridis.