Say goodbye (to some bamboo)

I grow a lot of bamboo, as regular readers know. Most of them are quite cold-hardy for St. Louis, but there are a few of them that are marginal. This means that they don't do well in our winters, and after a few years I've given up on them.


So this is the last look at three of them: two that are just not hardy enough, and one that is flowering heavily. That flowering one is Phyllostachys propinqua 'Beijing' and is shown above.



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Those brown "leaves" are not leaves. They are the flower structures:


Quite ugly and covering the whole plant and disappointing. Here it is from the other side:


There is one small section of this several feet away from the main plant that is not in flower -- I will dig that up and save it, but the rest is going to go. (Flowering bamboos typically die after putting all of their energy into the flowering. Although it may recover I do not intend on waiting another 3+ years to find out.)


Also going are these two on the other side of the yard:


Semiarundinaria fastuosa 'Viridis' on the left, and Phyllostachys nigra on the right.

The 'Viridis' never sizes up and looks sparse...





...and the nigra does, but every other year or so it topkills, resetting the plant to a juvenile state:


So I'm taking them out. I've already started.


And by "I'm taking them out" I mean that I've paid a neighborhood kid with a love of the gym to do the work.


More on the progress of this soon.


The hardest part of this will be moving the replacement bamboos into position.

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outlawgardener  – (September 20, 2017 at 8:47 AM)  

I've never seen bamboo bloom & yours was interesting. Sounds like a good decision to say goodbye to these and an even better decision to hire a neighborhood kid to do most of the heavy work.

Gerhard Bock (Succulents and More)  – (September 20, 2017 at 11:21 AM)  

Good decision hiring somebody to do the hard work!

danger garden  – (September 20, 2017 at 11:26 AM)  

"And by "I'm taking them out" I mean that I've paid a neighborhood kid with a love of the gym to do the work"....hahaha!

Evan Bean  – (September 20, 2017 at 12:04 PM)  

The kid looks like he's thinking, "What the !@# did I sign up for?

No matter how collectible a plant, or how beautiful it *could* be, if it's not working in your garden it's time to replace it with something that does!

Anna K  – (September 20, 2017 at 4:21 PM)  

Oh, to have a neighborhood kid with love for the gym around... what a luxury! :) I saw a bamboo in flower last year. It was my first time, and it got me quite excited. But, I can understand that if you are the owner, it might not be quite as exciting.

Lisa  – (September 20, 2017 at 7:54 PM)  

My boys (all grown men, in reality) frequently tell their workout partners "if you really wanna see crossfit training, come with me to my mom's house!" I find all kinds of ways for them to work on those muscle groups! Good on you finding your own gym loving boy!

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