Saw this last weekend at a St. Louis (zone 6) area nursery. Surely the wrong tag. Any ideas what it is? No shoots yet. Pretty sure it isn't Yellow Groove (the most common bamboo in this area). The tag photo looks nothing like the plant, and Bambusa vulgaris won't survive here. Just wondering what it may be.

Sorry I didn't get more photos, but I was trying not to spend too much time looking at it in case I started getting interested.



I didn't ask the nursery staff because they only had 2 bamboos (both in the "clearance" section) and although they did have some youngish Yellow Groove in the ground, I didn't expect a knowledgeable answer.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

looks like P. aureasulcata to me....
1) is that slight yellow to the right of the dead culm?
2) the raised ridge above the sheath scar at each node
2) I would be amazed that they have had a B. anything survive the winter there to make it TO the clearance area!

Yah, that looks like yellow groove to me too. The groove on aureosulcatas are typically very faint. Also the bent culm is another indicator.

Good way to tell is to feel the culms. Aureosulcatas tend to have fine sandpaper feel to them (so does Henon, and some others).

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Happy trails...

Ah, ok. The pot next to it was definitely yellow groove too, but the culms were smaller so the groove was more pronounced. (I have 2 juvenile YGs already, and they have a more pronounced groove too.)

The waxy coating isn't something I've seen on YG either. I didn't think to feel for the rough culms.

I'll probably head back out there in a month or so (it's a really unique nursery for this area) and I'll see if it's still around.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

I went to a couple of other local garden centers yesterday, and saw quite a bit of bamboo but was pretty disapponted. The one place had several pots all with "Yellow Groove" tags on them, but none of them were YG. They were either Phy. nigra or nuda. I think all of them had "sold" tags on them, which means there might be some disappointed people next year (nigra doesn't do very well here it seems).

Then the second garden center had a couple of labeled pots of Plei. fortunei (no signs of flowering, unlike mine), and a lot of pots that were completely unlabeled: fortunei (or some other similar variegated form, but probably fortunei), Yellow Groove, and even a couple of Fargesia rufa. The fortunei and rufa were in the "grasses" section, and I could see somebody easily mistaking the fortunei for a variegated grass.

I wanted to talk to somebody and point out these problems at both places, but they were busy and I wanted to get home before a storm hit. Any suggestions on how I can talk to them about these problems and be listened to? It would be nice to have some nurseries in the area that know *a little bit* about bamboo.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

Actually, now that I just looked at some photos I took last year of a mature YG grove (at Missouri Botanical Garden), it's possible that some of them *were* actually YG. They just didn't have any yellow in the sulcis at all, and all of the culms felt completely smooth. They didn't look or feel at all like the YG I have in my garden. I still feel like most were NOT Yellow Groove, but it's possible.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

Most of the time when you point out a miss ID, they just smile and nod in a way that tells you that they cant wait for you to go away.

I know the exact feeling.

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Roy Rogers
Southern Tampania de la Floridana Universidad (STFU)
STFU Motto: All Bamboos are not Created Equal; @ STFU, the Search Continues
**********
ROY'S BAMBOO LIST

This is why bamboo nurseries love mail order maybe?

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

I've given this some thought....
and my best advice is.... let it go.

If they are trying to market Bambusa in MO, they obviously don't give a damn.
If they are trying to market some other boo, but don't care about accurate labels, they obviously don't give a damn.

Any customer who would buy Bambusa in MO is either very adventurous or very ignorant.
EIther way, they don't give a damn.

The worst this could do for boos reputation is make it seem difficult to grow.
Boo don't give a damn.

That just leaves you, standing there giving a damn.
Your neighborhood has gone to hell And there's a storm brewing.
Now, get the hell of my porch. (Clint Eastwood reference.)

sorry.

I was in Lowes about a week ago and they had Fargesia robusta for a reasonable price. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to like our Indiana Summers.

Do we know for sure that Bambusa vulgaris won't survive MO Winters? Needmore has had Bambusa ventricosa survive three Indiana Winters and I have had it survive one and am waiting to see if it puts up shoots again this year. I expect shoots!

Still waiting on a Clone X to test. I will keep a backup Clone X if I get one.

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Southern Indiana. Theoretically the same climate as 'needmore' & 'Eastlandia'.
My Bamboo List.

Wooooo!!!! I have 16 foot tall Moso in Southern Indiana!

Yes, we know it doesn't stand a chance in MO. Vulgaris is one of the most sensitive Bambusas, and ventricosa is one of the toughest. I killed a B. vulgaris in Houston. This plant never put out any new growth, and that was only getting down to 27°F...

http://www.bambooweb.info/ShowPictures2 ... enus=*&s=2

mantis, you've tried the experiment. I know now not to try Bambusa vulgaris in Indiana.

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Southern Indiana. Theoretically the same climate as 'needmore' & 'Eastlandia'.
My Bamboo List.

Wooooo!!!! I have 16 foot tall Moso in Southern Indiana!

You're assuming it's intentional. If it's an honest mistake, or if the grower made a mistake (if tags were added before nursery got the plants), then they probably DO want to know. I assume they want reliable suppliers, and that the plants they're receiving are the plants they're paying for. (Maybe.)

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!