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Old 05-08-2007, 01:10 PM
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Default The case for making an informed choice

Bamboo is a very popular plant for sale in Garden Centres but it's unfortunate that all too often people are unable to make an informed choice at the point of purchase. It is a beautiful plant but it should not be purchased on an impulse which could cause a lot of heart and back ache!

(I wanted to add a picture of my bamboos but no joy despite being well within image criteria (55KB) I'm having problems posting it - so you may not see anything - but I'll continue with writing this post ...... There's no FAQ I can see. So send me a private message and I'll upload later)

Bamboo is a grass and it grows like one. Spread is infinite. I don't go a bundle on restrictive skirts - ultimately. They assume that in all their evolutionary milenia bamboo never encountered a stone in the ground! Stones in the ground slow them down and that's about it. We're talking about a plant with a tensile strength of 50,000psi (mild steel is 60K). When bamboo roots encounter an obstacle they surface and travel until they find a route back underground.

Bamboos need moisture, dehydration is likely to be their biggest enemy. MOST have root systems that travel down to about 2ft, one exception are the chuqueas (4ft). Some will send up new culms about ever 2" (Semiarundinaria yashedake 'Kimmei') along their runs, with others it can be yards!

Not surprisingly the attractive broader-leaved sasas and pseudosasas are being marketed a lot as a result of their shorter stature, but what they lack in height they more than make up for in spread. This is rarely mentioned.

So before you buy check around, make your purchase based upon an informed decision and then enjoy this beautiful plant - you won't have to wait long!
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Old 05-08-2007, 02:22 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Winsford View Post
(I wanted to add a picture of my bamboos but no joy despite being well within image criteria (55KB) I'm having problems posting it - so you may not see anything - but I'll continue with writing this post ...... There's no FAQ I can see. So send me a private message and I'll upload later)
Here it is!
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Old 09-08-2007, 05:27 PM
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Originally Posted by Winsford View Post
Bamboo is a grass and it grows like one. Spread is infinite.
I have plenty of ornamental grasses that stay put in a clump, including some which are bamboos (Fargesia, Thamnocalamus spp.)

Otherwise, I agree with your sentiment that bamboo sellers ought to be candid about the spreading prospects of what they are selling. But I don't believe there is any reality of it happening, and I probably don't want to live in the type of country which would legislate for it. The reality is that sellers can sell (most) things even in complete ignorance of what they are selling, and even if they do are under no obligation to make disclosure. Even some of the most respected bamboo sellers describe Phyllostachys as "clumping" unless it is a totally rampant one. As in everything else, it is caveat emptor.
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Old 10-08-2007, 01:15 AM posted to rec.gardens.bamboo
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Default The case for making an informed choice

echinosum wrote:
Winsford;736648 Wrote:
Bamboo is a grass and it grows like one. Spread is infinite.I have plenty of ornamental grasses that stay put in a clump, including

some which are bamboos (Fargesia, Thamnocalamus spp.)

Otherwise, I agree with your sentiment that bamboo sellers ought to be
candid about the spreading prospects of what they are selling. But I
don't believe there is any reality of it happening, and I probably
don't want to live in the type of country which would legislate for it.
The reality is that sellers can sell (most) things even in complete
ignorance of what they are selling, and even if they do are under no
obligation to make disclosure. Even some of the most respected bamboo
sellers describe Phyllostachys as "clumping" unless it is a totally
rampant one. As in everything else, it is caveat emptor.




Do those "most respected bamboo sellers" have names?

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Old 11-08-2007, 03:59 AM posted to rec.gardens.bamboo
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Default The case for making an informed choice


"DG" wrote in message
...
Travis wrote:

Do those "most respected bamboo sellers" have names?



I've used three and all did a good job.

This one I've mail ordered:
http://www.bamboodirect.com

This one I've mail ordered and bought the
http://www.bamboosourcery.com

Bought a few retail from:
http://www.booshootgardens.com/index.cfm


DG,
I think Travis was referring to the statement from echnosum
Even some of the most respected bamboo
sellers describe Phyllostachys as "clumping" unless it is a totally
rampant one.


I did not see anything on those websites that said Phyllostachys was a
clumper.

The only person outside of Europe that I have seen described a Phyllostachys
as
a clumper was Cisco Morris on his television show. He planted a P. aurea and
said it was a clumper then gave a warning that all clumpers will run after
about
4 years.

Bill




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Old 11-08-2007, 07:50 PM posted to rec.gardens.bamboo
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Default The case for making an informed choice

hollenback wrote:
"DG" wrote in message
...
Travis wrote:
Do those "most respected bamboo sellers" have names?


I've used three and all did a good job.

This one I've mail ordered:
http://www.bamboodirect.com

This one I've mail ordered and bought the
http://www.bamboosourcery.com

Bought a few retail from:
http://www.booshootgardens.com/index.cfm


DG,
I think Travis was referring to the statement from echnosum
Even some of the most respected bamboo
sellers describe Phyllostachys as "clumping" unless it is a totally
rampant one.


I did not see anything on those websites that said Phyllostachys was a
clumper.

The only person outside of Europe that I have seen described a Phyllostachys
as
a clumper was Cisco Morris on his television show. He planted a P. aurea and
said it was a clumper then gave a warning that all clumpers will run after
about
4 years.

Bill



ooh la la la

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Old 12-08-2007, 04:18 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Travis View Post
The only person outside of Europe that I have seen described a Phyllostachys
as a clumper was Cisco Morris on his television show. He planted a P. aurea and
said it was a clumper then gave a warning that all clumpers will run after
about
4 years.

Bill Travis in Shoreline Washington
The quote says it all. People need to go in to bamboo with both eyes wide open and be prepared. After all, we all know about 'dwarf' conifers that will revert in time. 'Clumping' is a question of time. Time, ground conditions and climate.

I grow 20 varieties and I reckon bamboo takes four years just to settle in. If it likes its situation by year seven its moving like a train! But it IS beautiful!

I've come across many garden visitors who have planted bamboo and then been forced to go to considerable effort to remove it. I believe many households are in for a shock in years to come. Just as householders here in the UK have, for the past 35years, been advised that there was really only one plant to grow along their garden perimeter (Leyland cypress). Yet only fairly recently is the Govt legislating against it. And Leylandii remain where they are planted . . . .
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Old 13-08-2007, 06:39 AM posted to rec.gardens.bamboo
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Default The case for making an informed choice

Winsford wrote:
Travis;738376 Wrote:
The only person outside of Europe that I have seen described a
Phyllostachys
as a clumper was Cisco Morris on his television show. He planted a P.
aurea and
said it was a clumper then gave a warning that all clumpers will run
after
about
4 years.

Bill Travis in Shoreline Washington


The quote says it all. People need to go in to bamboo with both eyes
wide open and be prepared. After all, we all know about 'dwarf'
conifers that will revert in time. 'Clumping' is a question of time.
Time, ground conditions and climate.

I grow 20 varieties and I reckon bamboo takes four years just to settle
in. If it likes its situation by year seven its moving like a train! But
it IS beautiful!

I've come across many garden visitors who have planted bamboo and then
been forced to go to considerable effort to remove it. I believe many
households are in for a shock in years to come. Just as householders
here in the UK have, for the past 35years, been advised that there was
really only one plant to grow along their garden perimeter (Leyland
cypress). Yet only fairly recently is the Govt legislating against it.
And Leylandii remain where they are planted . . . .




Watch your quoting. I did not write what you are attributing to me.

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Travis in Shoreline Washington
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Old 13-08-2007, 10:14 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Travis View Post
Do those "most respected bamboo sellers" have names?
OP is in the UK, where it is common for phyllostachys to be falsely described as a clumper, even by respected television/radio gardeners. Several of the more popular phyllostachys species are not very rampant in the UK, but they are still runners and will run eventually. I would name Jungle Giants, Hardy Bamboos and The Palm Centre, as respected bamboo sellers who use the word "clumping" in relation to Phyllostachys, (even though the second of these is run by a man who wrote a book making quite clear the true situation). In terms of accurate advice (when selling) I would name Pan-Global Plants of Frampton upon Severn, and Whitelea Nurseries, alias UK-bamboos.co.uk
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Old 13-08-2007, 05:40 PM posted to rec.gardens.bamboo
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Default The case for making an informed choice

echinosum wrote:
Travis;738007 Wrote:
Do those "most respected bamboo sellers" have names?

OP is in the UK, where it is common for phyllostachys to be falsely
described as a clumper, even by respected television/radio gardeners.
Several of the more popular phyllostachys species are not very rampant
in the UK, but they are still runners and will run eventually. I would
name Jungle Giants, Hardy Bamboos and The Palm Centre, as respected
bamboo sellers who use the word "clumping" in relation to
Phyllostachys, (even though the second of these is run by a man who
wrote a book making quite clear the true situation). In terms of
accurate advice (when selling) I would name Pan-Global Plants of
Frampton upon Severn, and Whitelea Nurseries, alias UK-bamboos.co.uk


I have sent all 3 you mentioned an email asking why they call runners
clumping.


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Old 14-08-2007, 09:47 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Travis View Post
I have sent all 3 you mentioned an email asking why they call runners clumping.
If you get a reply, they will say, glibly, something like "because they are effectively clumping in UK conditions" or "because it assists our customers to understand they are not difficult invasive plants like sasa palmata". And carry on. They may even call in their defence the TV personality gardeners who call them clumping. The real, unspoken, answers are "because we want to sell them, and we think that calling them 'running' would frighten off the customers", and "clumping is not a scientific term like pachymorphic, so I won't get done by trading standards for misusing it".

I'm not defending them. I think it's shabby.
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Old 15-08-2007, 09:43 PM posted to rec.gardens.bamboo
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Default The case for making an informed choice

echinosum wrote:
Travis;738945 Wrote:
I have sent all 3 you mentioned an email asking why they call runners
clumping.

If you get a reply, they will say, glibly, something like "because they
are effectively clumping in UK conditions" or "because it assists our
customers to understand they are not difficult invasive plants like
sasa palmata". And carry on. They may even call in their defence the TV
personality gardeners who call them clumping. The real, unspoken,
answers are "because we want to sell them, and we think that calling
them 'running' would frighten off the customers", and "clumping is not
a scientific term like pachymorphic, so I won't get done by trading
standards for misusing it".

I'm not defending them. I think it's shabby.




I have not heard from a single one of them.

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Travis in Shoreline Washington
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