Visit to Dave Andrew's bamboo gardens lots of pictures
Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 9:48 pm
Yesterday I visited perhaps one of the biggest bamboo collections, at least in the Mid-Atlantic, and of course, I took a lot of pictures. He has over 50 species of bamboos, a few ground covers, as well as some of the the ones in between. He even has unique seedlings that haven't been distributed yet. His biggest bamboos are henon, ducis, and viridis which all have quite a few 3.5 inch diameter culms. Some might be a bit bigger, but no larger than 4. These also all appear near the 40ft mark. It's really hard to measure up their exact height without cutting them down, but some of the super tall culms may be in the 45-50ft range. His average groves appear to be around 2 inches in diameter by 30ft which is expected in zone 7a/b.
Some of the things I took away from seeing mature groves is that they are:
-They are not too hard to manage as 1 man can handle shoot culling, and keeping the groves separated.
-Tall and skinny bamboos with lots of foliage can produce have a problem with leaning over at maturity due to heavy snow, and they sometimes stay bent.
-Bamboo groves will often still up-size even after 20-30 years as it takes some species that long to gain size
-Some species will simply be too tall and vigorous and shade out slower species that take a lot longer to get established
-It is possible to create dividable plants by severing rhizomes from the main plant, keeping them in many pieces, and topping their shoots
-Culms on a mature grove can live up to 15-20 years old
-Most bamboos need direct sunlight in order to get established, and thrive
-Bamboos have a way of decaying their old rhizomes, and choosing a line of rhizomes to stay in a connected rhizome system so several separate divisions will eventually result in 1 plant. All the other ones will get shaded out and fail to thrive unless they are transplanted away
-Most larger bamboos will only make a significant number of good sized shoots every other year
-Many timber bamboos will eventually invest more energy into producing bigger and taller culms as opposed to running rampantly even in warmer climates
-A 3.5 inch diameter bamboo can be climbed, but they are very slippery making them very difficult to grip. Prominens may be the easiest to climb
-Winter damage and leaf burn does not seem to be a problem for just about any temperate bamboo at least in Southern Maryland
I took over 300 pictures so I'm obviously not going to post them all, but here's a handful of them to show what I saw.
Arundinaria Gigantea
Bambusa Multiplex Fernleaf
Chimonobambusa tumidissinoda
Indocalamus Tessalatus
Phyllostachys Acuta
Phyllosatchys Angusta
Phyllostachys Aurea Koi
Phyllostachys Aureosulcata spectabilis
Phyllostachys Atrovaginata
Phyllostachys Aurea
Phyllostachys aurea all gold
Phyllostachys bambusoides all gold
Phyllostachys bambusoides castillon
Phyllostachys bambusoides 'Leprechaun Gold'
Phyllostachys Bissetii
Phyllostachys Decora
Phyllostachys Dulcis
Phyllostachys Edulis moso
Phyllostachys Elegens
Phyllostachys flexuosa
Phyllostachys Glauca
Phyllostachys heteroclada purpurata
Phyllostachys heteroclada solida
Phyllostachys Makinoi
Phyllostachys nidularia
Phyllostachys Nigra
Phyllostachys Nigra Bory
Phyllostachys Nigra Henon
Phyllostachys Nuda
Phyllostachys Rubromarginata
Phyllostachys Viridis
Phyllostachys Vivax
Phyllostachys vivax aureocaulus
Psuedosasa japonica arrow bamboo
Psuedosasa japonica 'Tsutsumiana' Green Onion bamboo
Semiarundinaria fastuosa
Shibatea Kumasaca
Some of the things I took away from seeing mature groves is that they are:
-They are not too hard to manage as 1 man can handle shoot culling, and keeping the groves separated.
-Tall and skinny bamboos with lots of foliage can produce have a problem with leaning over at maturity due to heavy snow, and they sometimes stay bent.
-Bamboo groves will often still up-size even after 20-30 years as it takes some species that long to gain size
-Some species will simply be too tall and vigorous and shade out slower species that take a lot longer to get established
-It is possible to create dividable plants by severing rhizomes from the main plant, keeping them in many pieces, and topping their shoots
-Culms on a mature grove can live up to 15-20 years old
-Most bamboos need direct sunlight in order to get established, and thrive
-Bamboos have a way of decaying their old rhizomes, and choosing a line of rhizomes to stay in a connected rhizome system so several separate divisions will eventually result in 1 plant. All the other ones will get shaded out and fail to thrive unless they are transplanted away
-Most larger bamboos will only make a significant number of good sized shoots every other year
-Many timber bamboos will eventually invest more energy into producing bigger and taller culms as opposed to running rampantly even in warmer climates
-A 3.5 inch diameter bamboo can be climbed, but they are very slippery making them very difficult to grip. Prominens may be the easiest to climb
-Winter damage and leaf burn does not seem to be a problem for just about any temperate bamboo at least in Southern Maryland
I took over 300 pictures so I'm obviously not going to post them all, but here's a handful of them to show what I saw.
Arundinaria Gigantea
Bambusa Multiplex Fernleaf
Chimonobambusa tumidissinoda
Indocalamus Tessalatus
Phyllostachys Acuta
Phyllosatchys Angusta
Phyllostachys Aurea Koi
Phyllostachys Aureosulcata spectabilis
Phyllostachys Atrovaginata
Phyllostachys Aurea
Phyllostachys aurea all gold
Phyllostachys bambusoides all gold
Phyllostachys bambusoides castillon
Phyllostachys bambusoides 'Leprechaun Gold'
Phyllostachys Bissetii
Phyllostachys Decora
Phyllostachys Dulcis
Phyllostachys Edulis moso
Phyllostachys Elegens
Phyllostachys flexuosa
Phyllostachys Glauca
Phyllostachys heteroclada purpurata
Phyllostachys heteroclada solida
Phyllostachys Makinoi
Phyllostachys nidularia
Phyllostachys Nigra
Phyllostachys Nigra Bory
Phyllostachys Nigra Henon
Phyllostachys Nuda
Phyllostachys Rubromarginata
Phyllostachys Viridis
Phyllostachys Vivax
Phyllostachys vivax aureocaulus
Psuedosasa japonica arrow bamboo
Psuedosasa japonica 'Tsutsumiana' Green Onion bamboo
Semiarundinaria fastuosa
Shibatea Kumasaca