Succulents and More™

It’s been a year since I last blogged about the bamboos on my in-laws’ property in the mountains of Northern California. We planted the first one, a stone bamboo ( Phyllostachys angusta ), in the summer of 2010. Since then, a dozen more have been added. Most of them were 5-gallon plants, but some were as small as 1-gallon. Let’s take a look at what I lovingly call my bamboos-in-law. Here is the bamboo garden in the backyard: The old adage often used in reference to bamboos— the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, the third year they leap —definitely seems to apply. While there has been visible progress, it has been measured (with the exception of Fargesia ‘Rufa’, which has positively exploded). However, I expect some major upsizing to happen next year.

In the summer of 2010 we started to plant bamboos at my parents-in-law’s property in Mount Shasta in the mountains of far Northern California (USDA hardiness zone 7). It started with a golden vivax ( Phyllostachys vivax ‘Aureocaulis’) and was soon followed by a black bamboo ( Phyllostachys nigra ‘Punctata’). Now there are 12 different species of running and clumping bamboo growing in what we jokingly call “Experimental Bamboo Garden North.” I’ve blogged about my “bamboos-in-law” before ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ), and now it’s time for an early winter 2011 update. Most of the bamboos have been in the ground for a year or more now, and we’re beginning to see progress. The first photo is a panorama of the backyard looking towards the house. 1 Phyllostachys vivax ‘Aureocaulis’ 2 Chusquea gigantea 3 Phyllostachys nigra ‘Punctata’ 4 Phyllostachys bambusoides 5 Fargesia dracocephela ‘Rufa’ (2x) 6 Chusquea culeou ‘Roja’ Phyllostachys vivax ‘Aureocaulis’ This was the first bamboo w...

Vacationing in Brookings on the Southern Oregon coast , I finally got a chance to visit Tradewinds Bamboo Nursery located 20 miles up the road in Gold Beach. Started in 1993 on a hilly 2½ acre property just south of town by Gib Cooper and his wife Diane, Tradewinds has grown into one of the premier bamboo nurseries on the West Coast, if not in the entire country. Oregon coast south of Gold Beach The location is stunning: The nursery is located less than a mile from the Pacific Ocean. The climate in this part of Oregon, dubbed the “Banana Belt,” is enviably mild. According to Gib, winter lows rarely reach 20°F; some years see virtually no frost. This allows Tradewinds to grow a wide range of both clumping and running bamboos, including species you wouldn’t expect to see in Oregon, such as Bambusa multiplex ‘Alphonse Karr’ and Bambusa textilis , or cold-sensitive Chusquea species such as Chusquea sulcata . Carrying about 200 species, more than 100 of which are also planted in t...