Re: Bamboo Bonsai

Adam Gottschalk

In article <1e007d4e.0405270831.23179f88@posting.google.com>,
lists@randyfarnsworth.com (Randy Farnsworth) wrote:

> I cut back the bamboo in my yard this spring and planted some of the
> root cuttings in large pots. They make a great and interesting deck
> plant, and in the pot they stay kind of small. However, I also put a
> smaller piece of root into a small, shallow tabletop planter (about 6"
> x 9" diameter, and maybe 2" depth). Does anyone have any idea if this
> will grow and remain small?
>
> I don't know they type of bamboo this is, because someone gave it to
> me. The stalks get about 1" max diameter and maybe 20 feet tall after
> many years. It's one of the only types that can grow in our northern
> Utah climate (winters down to about 0 degrees F.) It looses it's
> leaves every winter. It has the hard, wood-type of stalks, not the
> softer grassy-type. New year stalks are green, old year are
> yellow/brown. It gets small branches on the old year stalks.
>
>
> The fallen leaves under the stalks in the winter and spring are very
> pretty - remind me of the bamboo forests I saw in Asia - but much
> smaller.

Can't say as I know in particular (about much bonsai at all in fact),
but the book I have from Lewis and Sutherland describes a few classic
styles of group plantings, with the one closest to a forest called
"Group" or "Yose-Ue" in Japanese. Sounds like a nice display in the
making. I'm a big fan of all plants, such as bamboo, which have a
multitude of uses, in addition to their pleasing aesthetics. Considering
all the different circumstances bamboo survives in, and folks of
different levels of ability tending to it, I'd imagine there's not much
you can't do with it.

You've reminded me that when I lived a couple of years in Taiwan, I
remember seeing forests of Betel-Nut trees. I looked up the word "betel"
in my dictionary and can't find it. Does anyone know what the botanical
name for this tree is, which produces nuts people in all part of Asia
chew?

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