Maui: Bamboos at Garden of Eden Arboretum

A few days ago I took you on a tour of the Garden of Eden Arboretum located on the Hāna Highway in northern Maui. My post showed you many of the exotic trees, shrubs and perennials growing there, but I left out one group of plants: bamboos.

The bamboo garden at Garden of Eden isn’t huge but since I didn’t know ahead of time that it even existed, it was like receiving an unexpected gift when I saw the first huge clump:

Bambusa vulgaris ‘Vittata’ aka painted bamboo;
from China and Japan; height to 50 ft., hardy to 27°F

Painted bamboo may be common in tropical regions, but for me it’s still a thing of rare beauty.

 

Bambusa vulgaris ‘Vittata’

 

Bambusa vulgaris ‘Vittata’

Painted bamboo was just the beginning. In quick succession I saw maybe a dozen massive clumping bamboos which, with the exception of Bambusa oldhamii (not shown) and Bambusa textilis (last photo of this post) are too cold-sensitive to survive long-term in our climate.

Even if you’re not into bamboos, I hope you’ll be impressed by the sheer physical size of these specimens, if not their stunning beauty.

 

Bambusa vulgaris ‘Wamin’ aka Buddha’s belly;
from South China; height to 30 ft.; hardy to 28°F

Dendrocalamus asper aka rough bamboo or giant Burmese timber bamboo
from Burma and Java; height to 100 ft.; hardy to 25°F

Dendrocalamus asper

Dendrocalamus asper

 

Dendrocalamus asper

Dendrocalamus asper

  

Dendrocalamus latiflorus ‘Mei-nung’; from China; height to 65 ft.; hardy to 25°F

 

Guadua angustifolia ‘Less Thorny’, a giant bamboo from Colombia, South America;
height to 100 ft.; hardy to 30°F

 

Guadua angustifolia

Bambusa lako aka Timor black; from Indonesia; height to 50 ft.; hardy to 28°F

 

Bambusa lako

Nastus elatus aka sweet shoot bambo; from Papua New Guinea;
height to 65 ft.; hardy to 60 ft.; hardy to 25°F; needs humidity!

 

Nastus elatus

Bambusa textilis aka weaver’s bamboo; from China; up to 40 ft.; hardy to 18°F

Yes, that’s me in the last photo, doing my little dance of joy. Fortunately, there was nobody else around to witness it, otherwise they’d still be talking about that middle-aged loon!

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