About 20 years ago, I saw my first Phyllostachys vivax in a pot at a nursery. Because the pot kept blowing over, large canes had been cut in half. The diameter of the canes was impressive so I happily took the plant home. It had no tag and didn't come with a warning. It grew happily in a pot in my former garden and came to this garden about 18 years ago but didn't get planted in the ground for a couple of years.
The interweb was not as advanced in those days and the garden books didn't say anything about barriers. The pot got planted in the ground and behaved so well for a few years that I assumed there was nothing to fear. I was told to just kick over the tender emerging culms where I didn't want them to grow. That works just fine but no one said anything about rhizomes continuing to grow further .
The clump soon filled in it's allotted space and then jumped across garden paths to emerge on the other sides. That too was okay but in the last few years, the beast has started invading a large sunny bed, growing around the pond where the rhizomes have caused some of the rock work to tilt this way and that, and seems set on growing into our old brick foundation.
Last year, I sawed down half of the grove and started a bit of rhizome pruning. The added light in what was becoming a very dark area was quite nice.
There's still a dark side...
"Oh, the Pain of Loving You."
The happy underground rhizomes grow fast and far. Here one is removed from beneath a bed of Pleioblastus viridistriatus another runner that gets cut to the ground each spring and fills in beautifully. This one is not as scary as the rhizomes are small making them easy to cut and pull up.
One of the many buckets of rhizomes that filled two yard waste bins.
Just to clear out the edge of this bed. The resident saxifrage patch was becoming less vigorous each year. I guess having hungry rhizomes beneath your roots will do that. So while sensible gardeners were out getting their plants in the ground, pulling weeds, and enjoying the sunny weekend, I was out digging out rhizomes which included having to remove and reset part of a brick walkway. Good times.
Any little piece left in the ground will send up little shoots. However, if not connected to the mother plant, the rhizome will eventually run out of energy and die if you keep cutting these down and providing food.
Another grove got cut to the ground last summer so now it's new sprout patrol for the next few years until I finally win the battle. Is it time to end the relationship with the timber bamboo grove or should we continue together? Eliminating it would take some time, a ton of work, and look horrible for a couple of years but it could be done. (Might be easier to simply sell the house and move.)
In other bamboo news, Hibanobambusa Tranquillans, another running stunner to only about 14 feet, had gotten way to crowded, tall, and also wanted to take over the world so down it all came. this also allowed greater access to the Hedera helix taking over the rotting wood fence behind the bamboo.
This will be allowed to grow back in the one area as the new growth is so beautiful.
We won't even mention Sasa tessellata mostly because it's now called Indocalamus tessellatus which pops up everywhere. How can one not enjoy that huge foliage? The mites sure like it. One of the reasons I grow so many plants in pots is because much of my soil is filled with various bamboo rhizomes.
One might think that I would learn a lesson yet when I saw Phyllostachys vivax aureocallus, in it
went. So now, there are about ten varieties of bamboo growing in my garden. On the bright side, it is evergreen and feels a bit tropical.
Peter, if you are thinning out your lovely bamboo, your sister would love some. It would look very nice along my back fence.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'll go pull some rhizomes out of the yard waste container. Remember to be careful, it will take over and change your life!
DeleteOh, I would be tempted by that orange one too. Your timber bamboo grove is awe-inspiring, but I can see the frustration with it taking over, especially under the pond.
ReplyDeleteI've cut down the stuff all around the pond and have been cutting culms like mad. Alan's advice about doing it each year instead of waiting so long is excellent and will be followed in the future!
DeleteOh man, I feel your pain. I have two clumps of boring yellow bamboo that are hellbent on taking over the world. I recently discovered that my cordless reciprocating saw can zip right through new rhizomes. My attack this year is to use this around the clump every six weeks or so (I also trenches around it) and see if it keeps it in check. If it doesn't, out it will come. Yours is SO beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThe reciprocating saw is an inspired idea! Do rocks ever pose a problem with the blade? I usually make two cuts an inch or more apart when leaving the rhizomes in the ground as without the gap, they may be able to repair the cut. I do enjoy those big culms.
DeleteThere were two here when we moved in - one in the ground and the other in a pot. The one in the ground is not the invasive type (at least I have been told that). The one in the pot is black bamboo and I think it is. I have kept it in the pot. It does not look that great. I don't know what to do with it.
ReplyDeleteThe one in the pot probably just wants some food. Bamboos, being big grasses, really respond well to high nitrogen fertilizer. Alan and Loree use and recommends Milorganite, an organic nitrogen fertilizer. I get a kick out of using Tacoma's recycled sludge fertilizer Tagro because it's free if you shovel it yourself. Also, sometimes potted bamboos get dry really fast even if it's wet as the leaves above keep the rain out of the pot. Try a little food and water and if it doesn't start looking better in a season or two someone will be happy to take it off of your hands. (Craigslist has worked wonders to make unwanted plants disappear from my alley!)
DeleteUgh. I have wondered many a time how Alan does it. If I had to choose between hauling around heavy containers in the spring and fall vs. rhizome pruning, well, you know which I've chosen. Your bamboo grove is magical but if the maintenance is starting to wear you down then "off with their heads!" (surely someone could be hired to get rid of it???)
ReplyDeleteThe maintenance wouldn't be bad if I'd been doing it all this time but until last year, I was all about letting it expand. My fault really. It'll stay for now.
DeleteThat's a painful divorce. I haven't grown bamboo because I was aware of its reputation but a friend contended with its removal in her (blessedly small) garden for years. (She was eventually successful in removing it but it took persistence.) Maybe you could try driving a metal barrier in to the ground to at least limit the spread?
ReplyDeleteThis in conjunction with the reciprocating saw idea might be just the ticket for the giant grove!
DeleteIt's easy for me to say "keep your bamboo because it's so beautiful." I'm not the one doing the hard work.
ReplyDeleteIt's not an easy choice. If push comes to shove, do what Loree says :-).
On the other hand, moving might be less painful. I really do enjoy looking at the stuff and the rhizome pruning only has to be done once a year but it must be remembered!
DeleteDefinitely the dark side of gardens is this kind of battle/maintenance chore. So far I haven't been bit by the bamboo bug, so I'm afraid my advice would sound very cruel. I do understand the attraction though, yet I hate plants with intensive built-in upkeep. Your call, Peter! That aureocallus is stunning. Not much help, am I?
ReplyDeleteIt's my fault for choosing runners but I love the way they look. Being fairly lazy, things will stay the way they are for now.
DeleteBrings back memories of our rampant row of bamboo … gone now , except for those stragglers that appear now and again.
ReplyDeleteI have also eradicated a couple bamboos (not as large as my big grove) by simply cutting it all down to the ground and mowing the area for a few years. It's really a fascinating plant.
DeleteWhen the property behind us was developed, with big two story houses, we put in clumping bamboo on the fence line. The clumps have expanded, but they do not run. Yes, we avoided any kind of spreading bamboo.
ReplyDeleteVery wise of you, Linda!
DeleteYour bamboo groves are so lovely and invoke that tropical feel like no other but I totally feel your pain with aggressive plants that are hard to keep up with. This time of year is tough because everything is growing so fast! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI have 4 bamboos, 3 different species, all clumpers (I'm terrified of runners). Two are very well behaved: 'Tiny Fern' and Mexican weeping bamboo, the latter being well behaved because it's not reliably winter hardy here in Austin. I have 2 'Alphonse Karr' bamboos, and while they don't run, do they grow vigorously. Plus, they need to be trimmed up to really look good, so that's a twice-a-year job. While I do love the way they look, if I'd known how much maintenance A.K. requires, I probably wouldn't have planted it.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little late to this bamboo party but I must comment: I love bamboo, but I love myself more. As I age, I want the garden to be more self sufficient and require less 'heavy lifting'. I would worry about the time and effort running bamboo demands of you. Or as Cisco Morris says: you could move :-)
ReplyDeleteLove the one with the orange stems, I'm not surprised you fell for that one. We have 2 clumpers here, no problem so far thank goodness!
ReplyDeleteYou' ll just have to get a panda. They are invasive and work intensive but they look wonderful. Your bamboo grove is fabulous. I have several bamboos romping away round my pond and so far I haven' t found them to be a problem. I grow varieties from cold, mountainous regions of Chile and the Himalayas which are not as invasive as the Chinese varieties.
ReplyDeleteYou' ll just have to get a panda. They are invasive and work intensive but they look wonderful. Your bamboo grove is fabulous. I have several bamboos romping away round my pond and so far I haven' t found them to be a problem. I grow varieties from cold, mountainous regions of Chile and the Himalayas which are not as invasive as the Chinese varieties.
ReplyDeleteI am most impressed by this blogs .
ReplyDeleteYou are a brave gardener. I was not yet an avid gardener when I saw bamboo coming up in the middle of an asphalt paved road and decided no bamboo. Still your garden is so gorgeous, perhaps it's worth the ordeal.
ReplyDelete