Foothill College Bamboo Garden, part 1

Foothill College is a community college in Los Altos Hills, California. This upscale Silicon Valley town is one of the most expensive places to live, not only in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, but in the entire country. According to the Multiple Listing Service, the median home price in 2009 was $2,435,000. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was a long-time resident of Los Altos Hills.

In light of this, it should come as no surprise that the campus of Foothill College looks more impressive than that of most state universities. I had certainly never seen a college parking lot that offers valet parking!

I went to Foothill College last Thursday together with Eric Fandel, a fellow bamboo enthusiast from Germany, to visit their renowned Bamboo Garden. It started in 1989 with just six black bamboos (Phyllostachys nigra) and has grown over the years into a collection of more than 70 species. Unlike Hakone, which we also visited on Thursday, the Foothill College Bamboo Garden contains nothing but bamboo. There are no companion plants other than a few stately oak trees. I wasn’t sure if such a focused planting scheme would work, but it succeeds splendidly thanks to the diversity of size, shape, texture and color inherent in bamboos.

120427_FoothillBG_pano
 

Initially I wasn’t sure how to best present the photos I took at Foothill College: by type of bamboo, by region of area, by size, etc. Ultimately I decided to show you the photos in the sequence in which I took them as we explored the two-acre garden. My hope is that this will allow you to share the sense of excitement I felt as I came across species upon species of bamboo, many of which are not commonly grown in our part of the world. I realize that this post—and tomorrow’s part two—will appeal mostly to bamboo lovers, but I hope that everybody else will still enjoy my photos.

I don’t want to duplicate information available elsewhere, most notably in the Species Source List of the American Bamboo Society, so I will restrict myself to captions indicating the genus and species.

120427_FoothillBG_02
The first view of the Bamboo Garden I saw as we were approaching from parking lot 6.
120427_FoothillBG_30
The tall bamboo in the middle (and right) is Phyllostachys bambusoides ‘Allgold’,
on the left is Phyllostachys edulis (aka moso).
120427_FoothillBG_Chusquea-culeou
Chusquea culeou, one of many chusqueas on display. It seems that they’re establishing a chusquea collection on this hillside. (Chusqueas are bamboos from the mountain ranges of Central and South America.)
120427_FoothillBG_Chusquea-pittieri_03
Chusquea pittieri
120427_FoothillBG_Chusquea-pittieri_07
Chusquea pittieri
                                                                                                                                       
120427_FoothillBG_Chusquea-pittieri_04
120427_FoothillBG_Chusquea-sulcata_02 
LEFT: Chusquea pittieri culms (notice the root primordia on the internodes)
RIGHT: Chusquea sulcata

120427_FoothillBG_Chusquea-gigantea_02
Chusquea gigantea, the largest of the chusqueas. This one is still a baby.
120427_FoothillBG_Chusquea-gigantea_04
Chusquea gigantea
120427_FoothillBG_Bambusa-chungii_04
Bambusa chungii, the big brother of the Baby Blue bamboo in our front yard
120427_FoothillBG_Bambusa-chungii_05
New culms on Bambusa chungii have a white coating that makes them look steely blue
120427_FoothillBG_Sasaella-masamuneana-Albostriata_02
Sasaella masamuneana ‘Albostriata’
120427_FoothillBG_Chimonobambusa-marmorea-Variegata_01
Chimonobambusa marmorea ‘Variegata’
120427_FoothillBG_Phyllostachys-bambusoides-Allgold_09
Phyllostachys bambusoides ‘Allgold’
120427_FoothillBG_Phyllostachys-bambusoides-Allgold_04
Phyllostachys bambusoides ‘Allgold’. Notice the variegated leaves.
120427_FoothillBG_44
I loved this gathering space in the middle of the bamboo grove.
Clearly, it gets much use by students.
120427_FoothillBG_Borinda-angustissima_ -Yushania-boliana
LEFT: Borinda angustissima
RIGHT: Yushania boliana (previously Borinda boliana)
120427_FoothillBG_68
View of the lower path, with Yushania boliana on the left
and Semiarundinaria fastuosa ‘Viridis’ on the right
                                                                                                                               
120427_FoothillBG_Yushania-boliana_05
 120427_FoothillBG_Yushania-boliana_07
Yushania boliana culms
                                                                                                                              
120427_FoothillBG_Bambusa-ventricosa-Kimmei_03
120427_FoothillBG_Bambusa-ventricosa-Kimmei_02
Yellow buddha belly (Bambusa ventricosa ‘Kimmei’).
In a residential garden, I’d recommend heavy thinning so the remarkable culms can be enjoyed without having to push aside the foliage.
                                                                                                                          
120427_FoothillBG_Bambusa-oldhamii_12
120427_FoothillBG_Bambusa-oldhamii_05
Bambusa oldhamii, the same bamboo we have in front of the house
120427_FoothillBG_Bambusa-oldhamii-frozen-culm
Bambusa oldhamii shoots late in the season (as late as October) and some of the shoots don’t harden off sufficiently before winter, resulting in frozen tops. The rest of the culm is perfectly viable and will leave out normally.
120427_FoothillBG_Semiarundinaria-fastuosa-viridis_05
Temple bamboo (Semiarundinaria fastuosa ‘Viridis’). In Japan, this species is commonly planted near temples, hence the name.
120427_FoothillBG_Hibanobambus-tranquillans-Shiroshima_03
FOREGROUND: Hibanobambusa tranquillans ‘Shiroshima’
120427_FoothillBG_Pseudosasa-owatarii_02
Pseudosasa owatarii, a very vigorous groundcover bamboo
120427_FoothillBG_Pleioblastus-shibuyanus-Tsuboi_03
Pleioblastus shibuyanus ‘Tsuboi’. This variety has been flowering all over the world, and I was very surprised to see such a healthy stand with no sign of flowering.
120427_FoothillBG_Bambusa-textilis_05
Weaver’s bamboo (Bambusa textilis), a relatively cold-hardy clumper that can become quite large, as seen here
120427_FoothillBG_Bambusa-textilis_07
LEFT: Bambusa multiplex ‘Alphonse Karr’ (the largest clump I’ve ever seen!)
RIGHT: Bambusa textilis
120427_FoothillBG_Bambusa-textilis_08
Bambusa textilis
120427_FoothillBG_Bambusa-textilis_06
Bambusa textilis

Click here to read part 2 of my visit to Foothill College’s Bamboo Garden. You’ll see giant tropical clumpers and beautiful moso and vivax.

Comments

  1. Very nice! Do many of the leaves seem unusually yellow to you? I know new leaves are light green, but I'd expect them to be a deeper green, even if it is early in the season.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Funny you should say that. Eric noticed that also. To me the yellowish leaf color seemed normal, i.e. that's what I see in many places in Northern California. After some discussion, Eric and I decided it must be the water. In tomorrow's post I'll have some photos of culms with pronounced hard water (calcium) spots.

      Not all species seemed to be affected the same way. It was mostly phyllostachys that showed yellowish leaves.

      Delete
  2. 2 acres, wow! The specimens looks very well taken cared off and quite a nice collection especially the Chusqueas on this installment. I reckon they could do with more oriental sculptures though to complement the bamboos.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A few stone lanterns would be awesome. I'm sure they wouldn't turn down a generous donation :-).

      Delete

Post a Comment