Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 23:40:47 -0800
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] bamboo


From:John MacGregor <jonivy@EARTHLINK.NET>@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU on 02/11/2003
11:40 PM PST

on 2/11/03 6:00 PM, Miriam L. Davey at athena_9@BELLSOUTH.NET
wrote:

> It's fantastic for many species of birds, including winter hums,
it's really
> nice looking in the garden, and it can be a big problem. Don't
get the
> invasive kinds. That's a bunch of them. My favorite is
something known
> around here as "Fern Leaf Bamboo" or clumping bamboo. It gets
25' tall, but
> spreads only a few inches a year. It's not hardy too much north
of here.

HUMnetters,

Forgive me for inserting myself here, but I think the point that
Miriam is
making is that there are running bamboos, like "golden bamboo"
(Phyllostachys aurea), with long rhizomes that spread rapidly in
all
directions, making ever-expanding, invasive plants that are
difficult to
control, and there clump-forming bamboos, like "hedge bamboo"
(Bambusa
multiplex), with very short rhizomes that spread only a few inches
a year.
Many different kinds of bamboo will provide attractive shelter for
many
kinds of birds, but from a gardener's standpoint, a clumping
bamboo is much
easier to control than a running one.

Bambusa multiplex 'Fernleaf' (known in Chinese as "Wang Tsai") is
a
selected clone of hedge bamboo long grown in the gardens of China,
with
whorls of about 20 alternately arranged leaves near the end of
each twig
that combine to make it resemble a fern frond. (B. multiplex
formerly was
known as Bambusa glaucescens , and it is still sometimes is sold
under that
name). 'Fernleaf' has closely space culms and forms a dense
clump, from 6
to 25 ft. tall (smaller with poor soil and kept on the dry side or
in a
container). With rich soil and plenty of water, it becomes larger
and
coarser and looses its ferny appearance. Another B. multiplex
clone,
'Golden Goddess', is of similarly small growth, with a more
conventional
bamboo form. Both are hardy to about 15 degrees F/-9 C.

Of course, there are a huge number of bamboos native to both the
old and new
worlds that range in size from 1-2-foot groundcovers to giant
timber forms
over 60 feet tall. If you are going to plant a bamboo, it is
worthwhile
researching what species and cultivars are best for your purpose
and
available space.

John MacGregor
South Pasadena, CA 91030

===========================
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 23:05:32 -0800
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] bamboo, high sugar content


From:John MacGregor <jonivy@EARTHLINK.NET>@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU on 02/13/2003
11:05 PM PST

on 2/13/03 11:52 AM, Miriam L. Davey at athena_9@BELLSOUTH.NET
wrote:

> So, John, what you're saying is that our traditional garden
exotic, Fern Leaf
> Bamboo, is just a shorter rhysomed (eek, spelling AND botany)
selection
> somebody found growing, realized the value of, and propagated?
That if we
> went to a given wild stand of Bambusa multiplex, it might well
would feature
> long invasive runners?  That is, if there are any wild stands of
that species
> left.

No, Miriam,

All the many forms of Bambusa multiplex are clump-forming--that
is, relatively short-rhizomed.  And I have no doubt that there are
still some wild stands of Bambusa multiplex in existence in East
Asia, a well as many different selected garden forms--some of them
brought into cultivation centuries ago.  In addition to
'Fern-leaf' and 'Golden Goddess', one of my favorites among the
latter group is B. multiplex 'Alphonse Karr', with culms striped
yellow and green.  Bambusa is a genus of more than 100 species of
purely clump-forming bamboos native to Asia, tropical Africa, and
both North and South America.  Short rhizomes are one of the
identifying characters of Bambusa.

Actually, the large, woody grasses grouped un-botanically as
"bamboo" belong not just to Bambusa but to dozens of different
genera.  Bambusa consists entirely of clump-forming species.
Phyllostachys, an Asian genus of more than 80 species [to  which
two widely grown "Black Bamboo" (P. nigra) and "Golden Bamboo" (P.
aurea) belong] consists entirely of running bamboos.  Their
rhizomes can spread several meters in a single season.  It is
these runners that should be avoided unless one really has room
for a large forest of bamboo.

The genus Arundinaria, to which the southeastern U.S. "Switch
Cane" belongs, is made up of only one species, A. gigantea.  It
has long (running) rhizomes.

> I find bamboo botany to be MOST confused in the horticulture
trade.

I think the big problem is that most people are only familiar with
one or two kinds of bamboo, and have a mental picture of only the
kind they know, while, in reality, bamboos range in size from
running groundcovers little over a foot high with culms smaller
than your little finger to giants 60-100 feet high with culms as
much as six inches through.  They are really a very heterogeneous
group.

There are lots of fairly recent books on bamboo.  For anyone
wanting a broader view of these woody grasses, I strongly
recommend The  Book of Bamboo: A comprehensive guide to this
remarkable plant, its uses and its history, by David Farrelly.
San Francisco, Sierra Club Books, 1984.  ISBN 087156-825-X.  It is
the classic work on the subject, unlikely ever to be superceded.

John MacGregor
South Pasadena, CA 91030
===============================
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 23:45:06 -0800
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>

Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] bamboo
T
From:John MacGregor <jonivy@EARTHLINK.NET>@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU on 02/14/2003
11:45 PM PST

on 2/14/03 6:02 AM, Rusty Mahony at rmahony@CHARTER.NET wrote:

> How hard would it be to contain black bamboo or
> other running varieties with a rhizome barrier?  Though I
> prefer some of the clumping types, my WIFE likes the black
> culms of the P. nigra.

Rusty,

In my experience, a root barrier for a Phyllostachys bamboo must
be at least three feet deep, and if the soil is sandy, even that
may not be deep enough.  Probably the best barrier would be a
poured concrete wall, with the edge at least three inches above
ground.  Also, watch out for runners that go OVER this edge and
head right back for the ground OUTSIDE the barrier.  At the
Huntington Botanical Gardens, a clump of  "Cloud Bamboo" (P. nigra
'Boryana') surrounded by just such a concrete barrier undermined
it and came up on the other side of the lunchroom building--fully
forty feet away.   This selected clone of P. nigra, with culms
decorated in cloudlike patterns of brown, green, and gold instead
of the normal black, is a particularly vigorous and large growing
form of P. nigra.  Elsewhere in the gardens a small forest of
"Golden Bamboo" (P. aurea) has run under a three-feet deep
concrete drainage channel and now entirely surrounds the canal
where previously it was only on one side of it.

I should add that with any of these running bamboos, one can get
rid of any shoot that comes up where you don't want it simply by
breaking it off at ground level when it is fresh and tender.  A
grass path that is mowed regularly will also form an effective
limiting factor.  And there is always the option of growing them
in large containers--preferably sitting atop concrete paving!

In case you haven't figured this out, I am almost as much enamored
with bamboos as I am with hummingbirds.  I share your wife's high
admiration for P. nigra as one of the most elegant of these woody
grasses, and I do not wish to leave the impression that the
running bamboos are any less beautiful than are the clump-forming
ones.  But one must be forewarned that they require policing.

To anyone wishing to sample the wide range of exquisite details of
bamboo, I recommend another book:  Bamboos.  Photographs by Paul
Starosta.  Text by Yves Crouzet.  Cologne: Benedikt Taschen
Verlag, 1998.   ISBN 3-8228-7759-X.  128 pages.  This visually
superb book of high definition photos with minimal text will give
you a good idea of what inspired the Chinese and Japanese to
feature bamboo in so much of their painting and poetry for so many
centuries.

John MacGregor
South Pasadena, CA 91030