Post Mortem Embrace

As I was tidying and removing some of the dead plants still dotted around the garden last weekend I noticed this in our utility area (i.e. where some dead plants are also stored to be sorted out later):

It's like the long dead Cyathea australis giving the newly dead Yucca thompsoniana a cuddle,  a post mortem embrace. Perhaps it is giving it commiseration or a welcome to plant hades.

The Yucca came to us many years ago bare root and needing TLC so it stayed in the greenhouse for quite some time. Not long after being repotted it flowered which took up a lot of energy from an already ailing plant. And instead of re-rooting, all pre existing roots that it had rotted away instead. It was a slow death for the poor plant as it lingered in the greenhouse for years, finally succumbing this spring despite being given special care all through those times. Nevermind. And so the remaining trunk is now stashed with other architectural lifeless plant bodies in the utility area.

And speaking of demise after flowering, one of my favourite bamboos in the garden, a very slow growing one yet so beautiful with its bright yellow culms with green stripe on its sulcus is flowering...

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Living Memory

No gardener likes to see plants die (well most of the time anyway, and there are exceptions of course).

Especially if that plant has a memory attached to it.

Like the bamboo below which was given to us by our much missed friend Kevin, gone so soon at the young age of thirty nine due to glioma, a few years ago. He gave it to us when we were still living in our first house which has a postage stamp size garden. When we moved to where we are now naturally it came with us. It was one of the first plants we planted out when we started developing our current garden and the plants significance increased even more when Kevin passed away.

There was no way it wouldn't be with us....that is until it decided it won't be with us anymore.

It started to go on decline last year when noticeable most of its culms have turned brown and very little new growth were replacing it. Perhaps it was just underfed and underwatered? But the plants surrounding it are just fine, if not doing even better.

But months before we noticed it going downhill it was preceded by two other bamboos of exactly the same type in different locations of the garden mysteriously dying as well. Hmmm....

Usually bamboos die when they are severely neglected (obviously) and when their hardiness are tested beyond their limits. Or if they go into full flowering mode (which is almost certainly lethal to clumping or pachymorphic bamboos). But generally bamboos are very tough and rather hard to kill, at least coming back from the ground when conditions are favourable again.

But three of the same kind of bamboos in different locations dying almost in succession is just odd. The bamboo that we are talking about were all labelled as Fargesia murielae 'Jumbo'.

This bamboo flowered profusely and almost simultaneously worldwide during the eighties but have produced viable seeds which carried on to become the new generation of this bamboo. Most temperate bamboos flower infrequently and only after many, many years (earning the common notion they only flower once every one hundred years, which is not true of course) and severely sets them back, if not killing them altogether. This was the case with this bamboo but with the new batch that has done well and propagated since now has that insurance that it is unlikely to flower again for a very long time. Division is far too slow to propagate such a well performing bamboo. Tissue culture was much quicker.

But there was no sign of flowering, it just went into terminal decline. Puzzled and mentioning it to a friend who is a bamboo collector himself, he said there were several reports elsewhere of this phenomenon happening to the same bamboo recently, and funny enough including one of his!

It seems we all bought ours at around the same time and our consensus was it is likely a 'bad batch of tissue cultured plants only rearing it's ugly head now'. Now I don't know much about the intricate science of tissue cultured plants to make definitive comments about it here but I am aware that it can produce erratic results later on. I even remember a discussion many years ago about making sure we all bought a Phyllostachys nigra that came from a division of a known good plant. Rather than tissue cultured ones which apparently was very inferior in quality (not producing big culms at all).

Back to this bamboo, despite it's meaningful association and significance we have no choice but to dig it up and replace it with something else. It's a shame to lose and let go of a gift but photos and memories will always be there.

And besides, it's best to remember someone who are no longer with us with something that is alive rather than dead.

I'm sure you'll agree.

Mark :-)

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An Infatuation to Remember

When I was fetching some old, ex rain shelters stored at the back of our smaller greenhouse right at the bottom of the garden I caught glimpse of a clump of bamboo at an angle that I very rarely see it from.

Looking beautiful and blue - Borinda papyrifera

It was looking great and I had to quickly grab the camera shortly after so I could take snaps of it from the same spot while the lighting was good too.

Seeing this specimen made me remember why I had an infatuation with bamboos before. I got so into them that at one point a few years ago I had over a hundred different species and forms of them.

Blue new culms...

Alas the infatuation was not meant to progress beyond that. Lacking the space to sustain them all as well as a decrease on the lustre of my affection towards them I let go of many of them.

Graceful cascading leaves

Perhaps in the future if we have more space to garden then I can rekindle this infatuation, and this time let it blossom to a full blown romance. Many of the rarer ones that I let go now reside in a friend's garden and I'm sure I can get a division again when,or rather if that time comes.

Meanwhile I shall continue to cherish the plants that are left in our garden, remnants of an infatuation.

What about you, have you ever been infatuated by a group of plants before to find yourself drifting away from it later on?

Mark :-)

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Wordless Wednesday

Knickers guarding bamboo trimmings

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Aurea, Aurea!

Phyllostachys aurea, more commonly known as the Golden Bamboo and less so as the Fishpole Bamboo is possibly the most popular and readily available Phyllostachys bamboo for sale in the UK. You're likely to see it in any garden centre and even DIY sheds tend to stock them in their outdoor plants and gardening section.

Phyllostachys aurea and their characteristic compressed lower nodes

We have several 'clumps' (it's a running bamboo and doesn't always remain a clump) of these in the garden and last weekend I spent some time tidying up a few of them. Some of them are meant to screen off something or look dense hence they on the whole left to do their thing. Others however are stripped to highlight their culms and their characteristic compressed nodes as well as impart a more airy feel to them and let light filter through the culms. The former are lesser maintenance while the latter requires more and will need regular pruning through the growing season.

Phyllostachys aurea can be dense growing and have branches all the way down and through the entire length of the culms (good for
screening). To appreciate it's nodes you may need to strip off the lower branches

I have been productive and managed to tackle a few of them and whilst admiring my work at the end of the day I was reminded how misleading the common name 'Golden Bamboo' really is. The culms never actually become golden in a bright yellow sort of way but. The closest to it becoming one is more like pale yellow on older culms a few years down the line when they become mature and nearing the end of their life (just for those culms that is, not the entire plant).

Most of the culms remain green for most of the time. Still a nice colour though but really it should be sold more with the common name Fishpole Bamboo rather than Golden Bamboo. Although admittedly the latter sounds more appealing than the former.

Saying that, there is actually a genuine golden form of the Golden Bamboo called Phyllostachys aurea 'Holochrysa' or it's synonym Phyllostachys aurea 'All Gold'

Phyllostachys aurea 'Holochrysa' - youngest culms start out green but can quickly turn bright/golden yellow.
Unlike the other one...

So why is the real golden form of the Golden Bamboo not sold readily as such, and instead the green form is?

Well the green form is more vigorous, more rewarding, propagates easily, and grows much quicker. The golden form doesn't,  it bulks up much slower...

Phyllostachys aurea 'Holochrysa'

Too slow to be commercially viable and for mass production. And besides, the species name aurea in latin means gold, hence the common stuck with it. And I don't think that can be shaken of.

But if you really want a really golden, bright yellow culmed Golden Bamboo, it is out there, just look for the right name.

Mark :-)

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Empty and Temporary

Well almost anyway, considering what was there before....

y last Saturday (the first few were taken last week as Gaz had previously blogged about), as well as a few not so hardy palms and other bits and bobs and I'm currently relishing the openness of the top patio as a result of it.

First one in...

Going...

Going (you can squeeze them all in)....

Gone (and all in)! Ready to be taken to their lovely new home!

Only a few potted bamboos remain, the one or two that were reserved by Gaz's parents as well as a couple of the smaller ones that were reserved by another friend. Three pots were saved from the cull as they will serve as screening from the neighbours. Two small pots of bamboos however will have to be taken to the nearby recycling centre for destruction as they are far too invasive to be planted out and no one that has approached has expressed interest in having them (due to their invasiveness). Plus I also don't immediately know anyone who has masses of land that are happy to let go of these two bamboos. We really need to let go of as much as we could as space is needed, as soon as possible....

Ahh space!

Did you know that at one point I had over a hundred bamboos in my collection? I love bamboos, obviously but in such a relatively small garden I could only accommodate a fraction of them to go in the ground. The rest had to be kept in pots. I enjoyed having them, I really did even when my interest in them started to dwindle as part of my 'personal evolution' when it came to this exotic gardening lark. They were in the garden and I took delight in taking care of them as much as I could even when I stopped purchasing any new ones at least for the last couple of years. Gradually my collection dwindled as I lost some of the 'not so hardy' in previous harsh winters as well letting go of the ones that are not garden worth at all. But still most of them remained.

Until a much needed and welcome change beckoned and nearly all of the potted bamboos had to go. 

The list of bamboos that I had to let go:

Chimonobambusa tumidissinoda

Fargesia murielae (seed grown)

Fargesia robusta

Fargesia robusta ‘Pingwu’

Fargesia robusta ‘Wolong’

Fargesia rufa

Fargesia scabrida

Pleioblastus simonii

Phyllostachys arcana f. luteosulcata

Phyllostachys aurea

Phyllostachys aurea ‘Flavescens Inversa’

Phyllostachys aureosulcata f. aureocaulis

Phyllostachys humilis

Phyllostachys iridescens

Phyllostachys nigra

Phyllostachys praecox f. viridisulcata

Phyllostachys vivax

Pseudosasa japonica ‘Tsutsumiana’

Sasa kurilensis
Sasa kurilensis ‘Shimofuri’

Sasa palmata f. nebulosa

Semiarundinaria fastuosa

Semiarundinaria kagamiana

Semiarundinaria makinoi

Shibataea kumasasa

X Hibanobambusa tranquillans ‘Shiroshima’

Speaking of bamboos, I was informed many weeks ago about the sad closure of Hardy Bamboo nursery which is owned by Paul Whittaker, author of the book Hardy Bamboo. As soon as I was told I checked out his website which confirmed that they have indeed called it a day and ceased trading. I personally don't what had happened but I do know that his book became very popular and became a definitive guide to growing bamboos in temperate to colder climates, as well as making bamboos very 'fashionable' in the nineties and noughties. Through him bamboos became more popular and well known more than ever before, to be used in exotic gardening schemes and landscaping. It is sad that his nursery has now closed and it will be interesting to see if another bamboo nursery will rise up to the gap it has left, and if the popularity of bamboos will remain high (which I suspect it will).

Speaking of gaps, what's happening here??

We need some hardcore to form the base of the currently being built quarantine pond so we've chipped away some of the already loose bricks on the top patio to be recycled here...

Anyway, back to the bamboos on our patio, much to my delight several good friends came forward and were happy enough to give them new homes. So we may be letting go of much cherished plants but we're happy enough that at least they were going to good homes who will be more than able enough to give them better condition than we ever did confined in pots.

So there you go, nearly all of the potted bamboos are gone now and suddenly the area feels so spacious...

I like it, liking the openness and spaciousness. But also not liking the fact that it has exposed unflattering parts like the ugly fence panels and the chicken wire above it, as well as the horrible concrete paving, ugh!

That red fence, ugh! And the concrete paving, ugh!!

But overall, I'm loving the potential of the space and it's something we are both excited about.

There's a sense of ordered randomness going on in this patio at the moment, with whatever's left (and mostly to be kept) grouped together to form a temporary display of some sort. A one week only affair as some rearranging will have to be done again soon.

Change is good and we're excited!

Mark :-)

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Out With The Old

As Mark blogged about recently, we have a number of plans ahead with the garden and the next on our list is the patio near to the house, we usually refer this as the top patio. This area has been home to a number of potted bamboos (almost 30 different species and cultivars), many of which need dividing and re-potting or planting into the ground - although several are too vigorous to be planted out here!

We have taken the decision that after many years with these bamboos that the time has come for a complete change here, and we have decided to let go of nearly all of these plants. Whilst this may seem like a bit of a dramatic decision we have had great pleasure from collecting and enjoying these plants but our garden is of limited size and so to be able to do something different and enjoy a change we need to allow them to go to new homes.

A couple of personal favourites will be kept but the rest are going to friends and family who can give these plants a better home, and in the most part a place in the ground. We decided against putting them on eBay so that we could still gain pleasure from them in the future when visiting friends gardens, and who knows we may even get given the odd division back in the future if we miss certain ones!

So... how do you get an 8 foot bamboo into the back of a car...

It's a good job bamboos bend!

We will still have many bamboos in the garden, as we have a number of plants in the ground so it won't be a complete shock!

The main makeover will take place next spring, however we need to create some space for a related house project (we will no doubt share some of the end results of this related project inn due course).

So what will we do.. well the plan is to completely change the feel of this patio area. I want to link this to the new area through choices of colour and materials. This will mean stone, wood, and probably plenty of white.

But it's not all change, the existing plants that are in the ground will remain, this includes three bamboos and several palms. Plus a couple of the old potted bamboos will stay to help maintain a screen between us and the neighbours.

We want this area to have quite a manicured feel, but clearly with exotic and tropical looking plants, perhaps with hints of a patio area from a tropical hotel...

Our existing patio furniture will no doubt find a new home, most probably in my parents garden, along with a couple of the bamboos it will almost feel like our garden! We want the new look to this patio to have quite a unified feel, and so the new furniture must help tie this together. I keep looking at the rattan style furniture which I think will work here. We had avoided this style of furniture in the garden previously but we both came to the same conclusion that this would work well in the new design.

In terms of plants the key thing for me will be to ensure the patio area looks good even in January or February, when anything deciduous will be bare of leaves, and any herbaceous plants will be tucked up under ground. In the main I want to stick mostly to evergreen plants, so there will probably be one or two more palms joining the party. 

The existing patio area as it looked earlier this year.

Many of the other potted plants will be staying, and hopefully will get planted into new beds once the make over is complete.

However other than clearing the bamboos off to new homes we won't be doing too much to this area this year.

Gaz :-) 

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The Garden in October

Such a sunny Sunday it was. Saturday wasn't so sunny, but decent enough that we were able to finish the pathway (more on that later). But last Sunday was glorious here, not bad considering it is the middle of October already.

In the jungle...

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Garden Visit: Mike Bell's Bamboo Collection

We had the pleasure of visiting Mike Bell last May and seeing his bamboo collection which he maintains on a dedicated site. He is the President Emeritus of The European Bamboo Society (EBS Great Britain) and regarded as the top most expert when it comes to growing and cultivating bamboo in the UK.

A very knowledgeable and down to earth man, we had a lovely time looking at his collection whilst chatting about the bamboos and all sorts of other exotic plants. Most of his specimens are stunning and well maintained solely by him. And lots of rare specimens and new introductions too!

Here are just some of the photos we took during our visit. There will be some that I don't have a label for as I've forgotten what they were but most will have, but bamboo aficionados might be able to ID them just by looking :)



Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Harbin'



Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Harbin Inversa'





Mike Bell showing us his specimen of Borinda lushuiensis (Yunnan 4) which was severely cut back from last winter



Borinda (Yunnan 3B)

Chusquea nigricans

Chusquea gigantea

Chusquea culeou

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Wordless Wednesday

Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Argus'

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