Some Random Photos Today

[bamboothew]

This is my favorite planting right now because of the contrast in culm colors: aureosulcata 'Aureocaulis' and nigra. I can't wait until the culms are actually mature-sized and I can cut all the old stuff out!

[Alan_L]

That's going to be nice in a year or two! Have you considered adding some green culms in there? I guess the nigra culms are green for several months though...

[stevelau1911]

Here are pictures of my 2 best prominens divisions which should be well primed to produce all kinds of shoots in another 4 months, or whenever the greenhouse heats up enough. The stronger performer will earn a spot in my garden.





I think it will be interesting to see how a black and yellow grove looks in another year. It will be interesting to see which one grows dominant. P Nigra has greater size potential while aureosulcatas are generally more aggressive in culm and rhizome production.

[bamboothew]

That's going to be nice in a year or two! Have you considered adding some green culms in there? I guess the nigra culms are green for several months though...

I prefer the look of the sharp contrast between yellow and black; and as you said, there will be green culms in there all summer anyway. It is possible that I may let a green boo spread into that planting eventually. There is a planting of arcana 'Luteosulcata' closeby with which I plan on letting spectabilis mix. Then, there will be a circular "clump" planting of yellow culms and black culms with a nearby planting of identical size of yellow culms and green (with yellow stripes) culms. I think the effect will be pretty neat!

I think it will be interesting to see how a black and yellow grove looks in another year. It will be interesting to see which one grows dominant. P Nigra has greater size potential while aureosulcatas are generally more aggressive in culm and rhizome production.

Steve, overall the 'Aureocaulis' is already vastly outperforming the nigra in culm production, but the nigra is larger even though it was started from bare rhizome the same Spring the 'Aureocaulis' was planted as 1 gal plants. The aggressiveness of the aureosulcata shouldn't really matter in the long run since I eventually plan to carefully select how many shoots of each species I allow to come up as well as the placement of the new culms. This should give the planting a very artificially produced "natural" look

Wow, that prominens really has a pretty distinctive look to the culms!

[stevelau1911]

I believe prominens may be closely related to dulcis, but one thing I can tell is that prominens seems to have smoother culms that turn yellowish with age, and I prominens also appears to have stronger culms. They have a simlar form, and about the same size potential. The hardiness is pretty much unknown in the US so it will be interesting to see if it can become evergreen in zone 6.

Here's a photo of the dulcis which gains around 3ft of height each year, being my tallest bamboo at 15ft so far. If prominens can do better than this, then it may become my favorite bamboo.

[johnw]

Do you tarp that dulcis or let it take its knocks?

[stevelau1911]

I only tarped it for last year when the tallest culm was still a bit under 12ft so they bent down to the ground easily, but I doubt it will ever be necessary any more unless extremely cold temperatures are in the forecast. It would not have leaf burned anyways with a zone 7a winter like last year.

Looking at the forecast in December, it will average several degrees above the historical average, and with the arctic ice caps at a record low, there simply isn't enough arctic air for a very cold winter this year. We have had winters where it never dipped below 10F, and with the lowest temperature so far at 26F going into December, it certainly looks like one of those mild winters.


I will still protect all the smaller bamboos because it only takes a few minutes when I can simply tie all the culms to the ground with a tent stake, and lay the tarp over them.

[stevelau1911]

Here's the propinqua beijing and decora untarping themselves so I ended up untying them since I don't see any point in keeping them tarped anymore. The tent spikes just weren't strong enough to hold down these groves.

Beijing



decora
It looks like damage can happen when leaves are kept submerged in water over winter.