Just picked up a Thamnocalamus crassinodus at a local nursery. I wonder what experieinces you've had with this one. In a 10 litre pot so I will have to bulk it up before trying it outside.

They were also selling Borinda angustissima but they appeared to be quite dead which is really no surprise. Probably wintered them in an unheated hoophouse!

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johnw coastal Nova Scotia

Johnw, my guess is you were at Briar Patch.
I have had the Thamnocalamus overwinter twice with some straw covering it. It stays surprisingly green. It hasn't put on any size in two years but it is in heavy shade. I'll just keep watching it and it might leap some in a few years.

The angustissima is beautiful. I have overwintered it inside for two years. The new shoots are purple and interesting. It is upsizing pretty fast. It's a got a beautiful shape in a container. I'll post a pic tommorow from my PC.

TC

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TC
http://gardenitis.blogspot.com/

It was Briar Patch. I am now doubting if it is in fact a Thamnocalamus at all. It must be a tissue-cultured plant as it has many, many canes and is severely congested. It's too small to show the typical culm sheaths of crassinodus. My thought that it is mislabelled is now increased as you say it is "surprisingly evergreen"; it should lose it leaves at temps below 15F according to the books. Will report back as I plan to find out the original source. Sure looks like a Fargesia to me.

Back to the congested state of the culms, has anyone seen this with tissue-cultured bamboos and will they break out of this behaviour? I've seen this stunting in rhodos, pieris and mt. laurels that have been tissue-cultured, sometimes they do break out of it but oftentimes not. I have also seen it in murielaes treated with Surflan and they have not recovered.

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johnw coastal Nova Scotia

johnw

Before I spend a hundred bucks driving to the Valley and back, do you know of any locations I should visit that have bamboo for sale (other than tissue culture plants)?

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TC
http://gardenitis.blogspot.com/

Home Depot - only the Dartmouth Crossing store - has Rufa 'Green Panda'. Also most Sobey's garden centres have it as well. That's all I've seen in bamboos.

Den Haan in Middleton has our nitidas as does Thexton's in Annapolis Royal, and Spencer's in Shelburne. Cosby's in Liverpool has been dividing our murielaes he grew on but I'd check first as I haven't checked lately.

Briar P. had nothing else. Ocean View in Chester had S. tsuboiana but the froze to the ground and were still $90.

Will keep you posted as I visit all the garden centres.

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johnw coastal Nova Scotia

Thanks johnw, appreciate it.

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TC
http://gardenitis.blogspot.com/

Here's a shot of my Fargesia / Borinda angustissima (not great quality) from last fall. Nice shape in the container. Does not do well in the full sun.

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TC
http://gardenitis.blogspot.com/

Looks great!

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johnw coastal Nova Scotia

Here is a picture I took of the Thamnocalamus I purchased from Briar Patch after I took the hay off this Spring. It's very green. It has been in this full shade location (not shaded now because no overhead leaves) for two winters now. It has not put on any new size at all. Although you may think it could be a Fargesia, the leaves have a slightly different color and seem more transparent than Fargesia leaves. I guess only time will tell.

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TC
http://gardenitis.blogspot.com/

Does yours have seriously congested tiny culms? Indeed the leaves are more reminiscent of murieliae seedlings. Have to read up on it because I think it is supposed to have solid culms so we could easily tell.

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johnw coastal Nova Scotia

This is an awesome looking bamboo...To bad our summers would melt this before July..

tncry-
That's a beautiful pot of bamboo you have there. However, I have to warn you that some day it will need re-potting and the only way you can get it out will be to take a hammer to that very nice pot. I learned through experience that bamboo should only be planted in vase-shaped pots and not ones with a recurved top. When I want to use a decorative pot like you have, I pot up the bamboo in the biggest utility pot that can be set inside the pretty one. You may want to do that while there is still a chance to do so.

kudzu - You're absolutely right, that was my first thought. It's very frustrating to go to garden centres here filled with clay and ceramic pots of which only 20% at best are suited to getting the plant out in the future. I quickly found that out years ago with a Pseudosasa in a huge cement/fibreglass pot with a lip on the rim, had to take a sledge hammer to it. What are potters and designers thinking?

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johnw coastal Nova Scotia

My last -- but not only! -- experience with this was a neighbor who had planted a bamboo in a wooden half whiskey barrel. Even though the top few inches of the container had no recurve (they were essentially straight up-and down), the rootball was so tight and woody that we couldn't get even a small division out. We had to knock off the iron bands and then peel the slats off to get access to the rootball. Obviously, you lose some volume by putting a utility pot inside a decorative pot, but I generally never plant directly in a decorative pot, regardless of shape. The other issue is that the roots/rhizomes exert a lot of outward pressure; when you couple that with any slight roughness of the inner pot surface, you're in deep trouble, even when the surface is ceramic.

I've received this advice before with this exact same pot. I originally had a Phyllostachys in it and I was confinced it was a bad idea. Since Fargesias (or Borinda) have been so painfully slow to size-up I figured putting one in this pot would work for quite a while. I think I am just going to leave it until the day it exhausts the soil or I lose the interest in bringing it inside for the winter.

I do appreciate the heads up.
Thanks

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TC
http://gardenitis.blogspot.com/