Albert's Greenhouse

Spring has sprung and fall has fell. Winter is here and it's colder than ... usual.
So this week, Albert's greenhouse reviews a vacation to China and Japan last fall.

This bamboo forest is located near the ancient capital city of Kyoto, Japan. It's actually in a town called Arashiyama to the north of the city center, backed up against a mountainside.

Bamboo is, famously, a grass. It's one of the fastest growing plants, and a new shoot may literally grow feet per day.

It needs well drained soil, so the slope of a mountainside suits it quite nicely.

Bamboo, though something that those of us in the United States might feel is a bit exotic, can be quite cold hardy. Even some of the larger varieties can survive chills down to -20F or so. Being a plant which stores much of its energy in its roots, it spreads rapidly given the right conditions, and can be very difficult to eradicate or contain. Some success with plastic barriers sunk three feet into the ground has been reported, but the best barriers are composed of poor growing conditions - soil too wet for the roots to survive.

I grow most of my bamboo in pots due to the spreading issues, and as would appear fitting, the one bamboo (Pleioblastus viridistriatus) which I have allowed free range due to its small size and innocuous appearance appears to be trying slowly to take over my front garden. The runners must be plucked from deep under ground at least twice a year lest the bamboo cover more than its fair share of area.

The danger of bamboo like this is that should I ever sell the property, the new owner might not understand that work is required to control it - it's not so agressive that a couple minutes work a few times a year won't keep it in its place, but being unaware that the landscaping is not a static thing could have far reaching consequences...