Himalacalmus cupreus

Ask questions about growing bamboo

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fredgpops
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Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2005 11:26 pm
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Location: plus 700ft in the Santa Cruz Mtns, 8 miles from the Pacific
35 miles S. of San Jose

Post by fredgpops »

Brad - I'm real surprised that Europeans are ahead on Asian mountain bamboo. California and Oregon growers have prided themselves on the intro of new mountain bamboo because they do so well in our coastal climate. That plus Karl Bareis has been the king of mountain bamboo, having traveled many times to China to bring in new mountain bamboo varieties. He has also been involved with Bamboo experts in China like the late Prof. Xue Jiru so he has a special relationship in China. Besides scandens, ask Jos if he is has interest in B. bolianda. Rgds - fred Irvine
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needmore
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Bamboo Society Membership: ABS - America
Location: Kea'au, HI

montane

Post by needmore »

Fred - I suspect that it may be due to their easier importation laws, combined with the fact that most of the UK is quite suitable for montane clumpers, while heat loving genus tend to struggle in many areas. Jan Oprins, Mike Bell, Jos and several other folks in Europe have made many import trips to China. Also, perhaps the smaller urban gardens are more plentiful than in the PNW and the compactness of the montane species is desirable.

Initially I contacted Mike Bell as a potential source for my importation visit and he said that he and an associate have a large number of not yet introduced Fargesias. He said his friend is a scientist who collected many species in hard to get to places and they all have only numbers for names. As I recall he said they had 40-60 plants that they might be tempted to part with, but again, I have no ability to focus on montane species, so I'm headed to see Jos instead.
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
http://www.needmorebamboo.com
Markj
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Location: Gloucester, UK.

Post by Markj »

Hi, I'm growing most of the new clumpers here, most were collected by Keith Rushford , he brought in 40 or so plants but quite a few are/could be the same/slight difference, but there's around 10 that are truly stunning. Most are still quite small here and have not reached maturity, but are still big plants. The really annoying thing is the lack of names, and even those with names are often re-named later, you can only talk for so long about KR 5288 Verses KR 4109 before it gets really confusing. Apart from the Jos/Yunnan stuff, there are two other collections of good looking stuff, but only a few in each. It's also worth noting that some of the plants are not really 'garden worthy' and won't be propagated from.

Interesting times ahead!

(I have some pic's of the un-named stuff, if anyone's interested )

MarkJ UK
Bamboo...Please note... This plant is seriously addictive and you may lose interest in other, less rewarding plants!
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Steve in France
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Location: Bethesda , Maryland , USA

Steve in France

Post by Steve in France »

Hi all, I was directed here by Markj, well worth the linking up from what i can see. First, Brad I lost your emails of a few months ago along with another US Bamboo growers email. So I'm a little confused about what we talked about, anyway I hope the trip goes very well and have max fun.
We have had a very mixed time lately with a new Son born in Aug and my Mother in Law dieing within a week. All finally getting back to normal now, invite still open for people passing near Paris (email in profile).

I don't know that I can add much to the general level of knowledge here but I'll do my best.My main area of interest at the moment is cultivation for max result and constant good looks from season to season.I'm not rhizome pruning at the moment but I will be managing emerging shoots. selecting for the best and stomping the rest. Mark and I hope to make a trip to Jos's and have a long discussion about how he manages to grow such mature and consistant culms on all his outdoor Bamboos.

As too if Jos will take Bamboo he cannot grow outdoors, well he has many that need to live in his two polytunnels, he has quite a few that are not listed for sale but if you know he has something you want he will make a division if possible, for rarer bamboos it's a good idea to let him know a few months in advance that you want one, as he like most good nursery men will not sell a division that has not proved it's self with a new culm.
(Brad the above info is not directed at you as it's info you know already, the info is a general headsup to others who are interested in buying from Jos. Mark and I needed to let him know last Spring about a few rarer Bamboos we wanted and in atleast one case we got the last division of the year 2005)

Here's hope for a great growing season next year and a great growing season in progress for those in the Southern half of the Mother Earth

Later
Steve
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