Gotta grow grass to keep with Jonesy, so I'm looking for some bamboo locally if not I can find it elsewhere. Anyone seen it around? I'm also just wondering what nurseries are worth checking out in the area.
Looking for a nursery that carries outdoor Bamboo and good nurseries in general
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Remember, you have to boil it twice before you eat it. Many died on the death march because the Japanese didn't tell them they had to boil it, then rinse it, then boil it in new water before they ate it.
The big bamboo is damn cool, if somewhat foreign/invasive. Consumes silicon from the soil, eats more carbon than any other plant,, sounds like a solar cell! :-)
I got a clumping variety last year from Black Diamond. I do not believe it is a regular item for them, though (didn't see it before the day I bought it and haven't seen it since).
I had looked for Bamboo a couple years ago and learned a couple things. First I couldn't find any in this area, and had to look online where you can find a lot of it. Second do your research a lot of varieties of Bamboo will not survive the winter outside in this area. Third be prepared to pay, some of the bamboo that I liked and that would grow here were $25-60 for a 3-5 gallon bucket with a small clump of Bamboo, plus S&H. 4) There are two types among the varieties, those that send out runners and will take over an area, and another type that sorta clumps as I recall and does not spread as fast and is not as invasive.
Our bamboo has pretty thin culms (shoots?) and doesn't seeem to be a fast grower. The bamboo has a very "ornamental grass" look (yes, I know bamboo is grass). It survived its first winter with flying colors and it was nice to have the additional "green" in the backyard garden during the winter.
I looked for the tag to see exactly what type of variety it is, but couldn't locate it. I'll ask my more-organized wife.
If you are a serious gardener then www.DavesGarden.com has a forum (among about 1,000 other kinds) devoted to bamboo. There are lengthy discussions about cultivars, culture and sources from every level gardener, beginner to PhD. I'm not particularly promoting this forum. It's become heavy with advertisers and has lost some of its objectivity over the last couple of years. Being a newly minted Master Gardener, my first inclination about researching plant information, leads me to the Cooperative Extension sight. http://ohioline.osu.edu/lines/hygs.html
'Running' bamboo (as opposed to clumping) is an extremely agressive plant. Containment is difficult at best and the plant is resistant to most herbicides. roygbiv's advice about researching the type you are intersted in before you plant is certainly sound. There are numerous resources on the net. Below is just one. Although I have a Japanese Garden, with koi pond, granite pagodas and lanterns and the required conifers I have no bamboo. The hardy clumping ( read safe) cultivars available are too weedy looking for my taste. But that's what gardening is all about - To each his own. And new stuff is hybridized or found all the time. I'm waiting for a nice tall Phyllostachy Nigra that won't require a 3 × 3 ft. concrete moat to keep it in bounds.
Favorite nurserys: Hatfields, Central Ave. Sylvania, Nature's Corner (very, very high quality plant material) Angola & Holland Sylvania. The Andersons carries some of the more difficult to find plants with good prices. I have found some stuff to be mislabeld. For bedding plants and perenniels Ben Sells on Dorr Street is absolutely outstanding - family owned and operated. Places to avoid - Menard's, Home Depot, and Lowes in that order. A good rule of thumb is if it is Big Box it is big trouble. Not that they don't sell a good plant here and there. Its just that they foist off on the uneducated gardening public the cheap stuff that is usually inferior to a lot of the better stuff. No one should sell an Acer saccharinum 'Silver Maple' or a Pyrus calleryana 'Bradford' pear - ever. I have one kind word about Home Depot. They funded the research for development and purchased the rights to an annual bedding plant called "SunPatiens", It's a good useful plant available only there. http://www.vivagarden.com/flowers/sunpatiens/index.html
Please, research BEFORE you plant. Get the Latin name from the tag and Google it. You will save money, time, frustration and the environment with just a few minutes of point and click.
I left out Dennis' Gardenland on Dorr St. There is nothing wrong with their plant material except the prices.
No interest in eating bamboo at this point. That could change. I was more interested in building a bike or a raft/dock from the stuff. Maybe a fence or a walkway.
I've found some in the Carolinas that claim -10F hardiness. I'll try them out. I can always cut the roots or yank them entirely if they get out of hand. They look promising nevertheless.
I'll check out the places mentioned. Didn't realize black diamond had a pburg location and never heard of the other places mentioned.
The latin names are a must. It seems every plant has 6 nicknames.
I have a veggie garden that I'm constantly surprised of the output. I plan on trying hydroponics in the fall. Long-term wouldn't mind getting a greenhouse or moving to warmer climate with a healthier political and economic climate.
holland good information. Did you used to work for a company called CLO? I knew someone there who was becoming a master gardener.
Bensels on Dorr may have Bamboo.
posted by TheAssHoleLawyer on May 21, 2008 at 08:26:58 am #
I like to think I'm a zen master gardener. Give the seeds a push and put them on autopilot.
I just pulled some houseplants from my neighbors garbage after a day they look way healthier.
FYI for those interested.
The Anderson's is carrying a clumping variety from Monrovia.
Here's a copypasta about bamboo:
Uses - In the past bamboo was central to life in many cultures. This was especially true in Asian countries. A Chinese farmer may have lived in a bamboo house, sat in a bamboo chair, and eaten food stored and prepared in bamboo containers. He may have used bamboo mats for flooring, beds, and covers. His sandals would have been made from bamboo and his hat woven from split bamboo. His livestock would have been in bamboo cages and pens and a bamboo fence would have enclosed his yard. The shoots of his bamboo might make up part of his meal which was eaten with bamboo chopsticks. A fisherman might use a raft made from bamboo that used bamboo for its sails and ropes. Tools would have been made from bamboo or used bamboo as handles.
Today things have changed but bamboo is still used in the same way in many rural cultures. Hundreds of new uses have been found for bamboo. No other plant has impacted so many cultures in so many ways over such a long period of time. This page will grow over time as we explore the ways bamboo has been used in the past and it's changing role today.
Landscaping - There are hundreds of nurseries around the world specializing in bamboo. Landscaping with bamboo is 99% of my business! The vast majority of customers want bamboo to use as a screen. This may be for privacy, to block a view, to cut down on noise or simply to provide dramatic beauty in the landscape. Small, dwarf bamboos are used as groundcovers, slightly larger bamboos make beautiful hedges, and the larger species make beautiful specimen plants in the garden. There's nothing quite like a grove of giant bamboo with towering canes. Walking through the grove is an experience few will forget. There are many places in the US where bamboo has been used in the landscape.Some are Fairchild Gardens in Miami, Fl. and Quail Botanical Gardens in LaJolla, Ca.
Both locations have huge collections of tropical bamboos. Most botanical gardens have a section devoted to bamboo or Japanese gardens.
Shelter - Everything from simple sheds to complex buildings have been built with bamboo. Bamboo may be used for the entire structure, for walls alone, for roofs, for floors, for most any part of the house structure.
Bridges - Bamboo has been used to bridge everything from small streams to big rivers. These bridges may be as simple as a few pieces of bamboo placed across a stream up to complex truss bridges, to suspension bridges using bamboo rope.
Fences - There must be hundreds of kinds of fences built from bamboo. The Chinese and Japanese have taken this to a high level of art. There are multiple books about bamboo fences with information on techniques and tools devoted to the craft. Fences range from simple lattice, to woven panels, to living walls. Fences made from bamboo may be used for privacy, for decoration, to contain livestock, as guard rails, to block unpleasant views, for every use imaginable. Building a bamboo fence can be quite simple or extremely elaborate.
Music - Bamboo has been used to make music since humans first began to make music. Probably as percussion instruments first, but over time almost every type of musical instrument has been made with bamboo. Flutes, panpipes, saxophones, didgeridoos, xylophones, marimbas, whistles, wind chimes, pipe organs, gongs, rain sticks, and the list goes on!
Construction - Domes, tea houses, roof tiles, gutters, ladder, concrete reinforcement, scaffolding, pergolas, temples, gazebos, shade pavilions, garden trellises, scaffolding, towers, churches, barns, pig pens, fish traps, piers, retaining walls, chicken pens, play structures, ladders, shelves, most anything you can think of. Bamboo flooring has become one of the most popular "hardwood" flooring products on the market today. "Plyboo" takes the place of plywood.
Furniture - Beds, chairs, tables, stools, book shelves, desk, bread racks, folding chairs, chest of drawers, wine racks, clothes racks, cabinets, lamps, chests, coffee tables, benches, work benches, any piece of furniture you can think of has been made of bamboo.
Boats - As a boat lover this is one of my favorites. Bamboo rafts are probably some of the earliest boats ever. With hollow, watertight compartments bamboo is a natural choice. But over time the ways bamboo has been used for boats has expanded. Chinese junks used bamboo for mast, booms, oars, rails, woven into sails, push poles, ropes, outriggers, etc. Several years ago Tim Severin built an entire boat of bamboo to try to prove that the Chinese may have crossed the Pacific hundreds of years ago. Over a hundred years ago Fridtjof Nansen was marooned in the artic and used bamboo poles and sail cloth to build a kayak to save himself. The Japanese used split bamboo to make a basket like boat for fishing. The Vietnamese make a type of boat from plaited bamboo. In ancient Polynesia the people built big catamarans using bamboo for mast, shelter, rails, floors, and as containers for fresh water. In modern times bamboo has been laminated and used for surfboards and modern boat construction.
Bamboo and food - Of course most bamboo shoots can be eaten and in times of massive flowering of bamboo the seeds are used as grain. But besides being a food item bamboo has been used (and continues to be used) in the kitchen. Just a few uses include, cups, bowls, place mats, chop sticks, egg beaters, tea whisks, forks, knives, spoons, canisters, rice cookers, salad bowls, napkin rings, and just about any other kitchen utensil you can think of! Rice is steamed in the sections of cane. Salad bowls are made from thin, woven strips of bamboo. Woven screens of split bamboo or used in rice steamers.
Miscellaneous -, airplanes, arrows, fishing poles, fly rods, bee hives, books, buckets, bean poles, blow guns, charcoal, paper, books(some of the earliest known books were written on strips of split bamboo), pens, baskets (every kind imaginable), beer, walking sticks, birdhouses, bird feeders, bows, fountains, bicycles, swings, carts, kites, windmills, jewelry, toys, hammocks, all kinds of containers, back scratchers (I've got one of these and it works great), cannons, carrying poles, crutches, curtains, cribs, cables, charcoal, candle holders, water pipes, oil pipes, tobacco pipes, dirigible, fans, firewood, flag pole, fishing floats, jewelry, kiosk, lanterns, light bulb filaments, bats, writing brushes, wheelbarrows, windmills, scoops, netsuke, polo balls, pole vaulting, paint brushes, umbrellas, rakes, rattles, record needles, concrete reinforcement, rulers, sandals, scoops, back scratchers, shoehorn, sieves, skewers, snow fence, stilts, tipi poles, toothpicks, torches, walking sticks, waterwheels, torches, towel racks, bird cages, curtains, rakes, mats, vases, flooring, hats, plywood, and more.
Fascinating Facts about Bamboo –
Helps Reverse Global Warming: Incredible and true, bamboo produces the MOST OXYGEN of all the plants! And it CONSUMES MORE CARBON DIOXIDE than any other plant!
Sustainably Harvested & Annually Renewable: Mature bamboos produce new shoots and canes each year, which can be harvested individually without destroying the plant.
Fastest Growing Plant on the Planet: New shoots of some species have been clocked growing up to 3 FEET PER DAY in their shooting season!
Environmental Cleanup: Bamboo plants are very effective at removing metals and other toxic substances from soils and water.
Diverse: There are over 1500 SPECIES of bamboo in the world.
Stronger Than Steel: Bamboo has a TENSILE STRENGTH of 28,000 per square inch, vs. 23,000 for steel.
Provides Safe Housing: Over 1 billion people in the world live in BAMBOO HOUSES. Bamboo buildings have proven to be exceedingly earthquake proof.
Nutrition for Humans and Animals: BAMBOO SHOOTS have been eaten throughout Asia for centuries, and branches and leaves make good fodder for animals. It contains Germanium, which reverses the aging process in cells.
Ancient Healing: Various parts of many bamboo species have been used in CHINESE AND AYURVEDIC MEDICINE for centuries.
Did You Know? Thomas Edison used bamboo filaments in his first LIGHT BULBS, and one of those bulbs is STILL burning today at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC!
Hardy: Bamboo was the first PLANT LIFE to return after the atomic bombings in Japan. Also, some bamboos are cold hardy to –20 degrees F.
posted by charlatan on May 20, 2008 at 12:01:52 am #