Exotics In My Garden.

Here are two non-native Plants that thrive in my Garden despite the last Two Cold Winters.


Flowers of Trachycarpus fortunii ( Windmill Palm, Chusan Palm )



Phyllostachus aureocaulis. Bamboo.

Given the lack of enforcement or the reluctance of local Authorities to act after receiving Phone calls re Giant Hogweed it seems to be growing everywhere, it is extremely dangerous and at this time it will be a small leafy Plant that looks very innocent, it is a horribly painful and disfiguering Weed that was brought in as an ornamental Garden plant, the danger lies in the sap of the Plant, the hollow stems are sometimes used as blow pipes etc, the sap doesn't sting while the exposed skin of the person using it remains in the dark but as soon as light hits the area the skin blisters terribly and is very painful..

I post this as an early warning if you intend going to River banks or on waste ground where this plant thrives, there is a native Hogweed but it is dwarfed by it's Russian cousin.

www.timesunion.com/local/article/Once-a-...lant-can-1452831.php


Giant Hogweed Leaf.

Kev.

very nice photos, great camera work Kevin, could you post a full shot picture of the Phyllostachys, bamboos are one of my fav plants
I lost a few plants i had for a good few years in the two cold winters but not one bamboo species, one or two of the more tender ones suffered a bit but all recovered once they burst back into growth

joemc wrote:

very nice photos, great camera work Kevin, could you post a full shot picture of the Phyllostachys, bamboos are one of my fav plants
I lost a few plants i had for a good few years in the two cold winters but not one bamboo species, one or two of the more tender ones suffered a bit but all recovered once they burst back into growth

Thanks for the kind remarks..

As requested...










Kev.

nice plant,some beautiful colors on the culms,what is their girth, again, thanks for posting, whats with the third picture? any chance of another photo from a distance? finicky aren't i!!!

The third Plant is fargesia murielae 'simba, Umbrella Bamboo.

The girth of the Phyllo is 10 cm



This is a pic from further away, the light was coming from behind so it looks a bit foggy.

Kev.

tks again, Fargesia murielae is another nice plant, and not a bad cultivar either, I only asked as i was wondering was it a test
edit
the Phyllo looks great in the last shot

No worries.

Kev.

Especially the two pictures in the first post looks very good btw, the sharp object and the blurry background really works well.

Melander

every garden should have some bamboo in it, just make sure that you research the species you plan to buy and that it is suitable for the space you intend allocating to it, what I mean is that the plant will be happy to live there and not spread out and end up where you don't want it causing you problems

Yep, there are two kinds sympodial which is a clumping Bamboo, the other is monopodial, a running type, running types are fine if you have a lot of Land and there is water surrounding the property, ie. Ditches, Water is the only known natural barrier to Bamboo, it can split Walls, push up Tarmac and is hard to remove once established. Bamboo dies after flowering and our climate isn't such that would allow reproduction via seed so be careful what you Plant, you could end up sorry.

Kev.

stretnik wrote:

Yep, there are two kinds sympodial which is a clumping Bamboo, the other is monopodial, a running type, running types are fine if you have a lot of Land and there is water surrounding the property, ie. Ditches, Water is the only known natural barrier to Bamboo, it can split Walls, push up Tarmac and is hard to remove once established. Bamboo dies after flowering and our climate isn't such that would allow reproduction via seed so be careful what you Plant, you could end up sorry.

Kev.

I never knew there were several types of bamboo. I always have been told not to plant it in my garden as very invasive !
I note that the sympodial is the one to get.
The only picture I could find comparing the various types of bamboos on the world wide web :



The article deals with the various bamboos in Yunnan, China though, not the ones available in garden centres here.
But, is there a way to distinguish them in the shop without dismantling the clump surrounding the roots ?

Thanks - V

I had a bamboo species flowering in my garden for about 8-9 years, ( Fargesia nitida, and a few of its named cultivars) last year I decided to kill it off as there was no real sign of it dying, it's growth was much weaker and it looked pretty poor from a garden point of view, but it had no intention of kicking the bucket. it produced an endless supply of seeds which kept rodents and birds well filled! some of it i collected and passed on or people visiting took some to try, I don't know how they got on with it but down here in my garden it self seeds and i have sprayed off quite a number of young plants, there are probably a good few survivors around the garden as i have not put a knapsack on my back very much in recent times

Here's a recently published Horticultural Code of Practice.....

invasivespeciesireland.com/wp-content/up...lture-Code-Final.pdf

ian

good link Ian, tks for posting.
after talking here about bamboos seeding etc I went out to the garden to have a look about the place at the bamboos and Ispotted another one in flower, Idid not know this species was flowering at the moment, it is Pleioblastus humilis, here is a pic up close, if the seed ripens i will colect some of it this time and see how well it germinates

I use Arundinaria pygmaea as a Groundcover, it amazed me while studying in the States, the huge diversity of Bamboo sp. Some so small and some like the Timber Bamboos, so magnificently huge, between 60 and 70 Feet tall and up to 7 ins in diameter ( sorry for the imperial measurements.. old Fart!) It's a bit misleading to say that after the plant, a Grass by the way, has flowered it will die, in actual fact, it is at this time it is more endangered and susceptible to die. Pandas find that since encroachment by Humans, the range of species becomes less available and they suffer famine due to the reduced Leaf growth of flowering specimens.

This Link Is the Bamboo Nursery I used to buy material for Landscape projects, this will give anyone interested lots of information.



An interesting factoid is that the Plant produces Silica and needs it to grow. When I was asked to fertilise Bamboo, all I did was use the chopped up stems and leaves by placing them around the base of the customers Plant... easy peasy and cheap to boot. The alternative is very expensive Bentonite ( a form of Clay )

Another Factoid is that the Japanese, during WWII used Bamboo as a form of torture, not under Nails... I'll leave it to your Googling Fingers to find out what was done.

Just to finish, there is a Bacterial Disease called Erwinia amylovora or Fire Blight that affects the Rose Family, not only Roses but Hawthorn, Mountain Ash etc, it is a notifiable Disease but despite Phone calls to my Local DCC they insisted on replanting the same type of Tree in the area where a diseased tree (Fire Blight ) was removed. If local Authorities don't act, we have an uphill battle to educate and motivate members of the Public.

Kev.

good post Kevin, and i am sure you would agree only the tip of the iceberg in regards to bamboo facts and figures !
here is another good site to spend an hour or so on the internet viewing
www.bambouseraie.com/
re the fire blight, well that does not surprise me, these are the same people who plant trees directly under power lines and then come back a few years later to chop the top off the tree! between that and the ridiculous labour intensive short term tacky roundabout plantings it does my head in!
re the power lines and trees, there is one planting in particular of Carpinus betulus 'Frans Fontaine' in cork city that I remember being planted a few years back i must take a picture of the planting now and post it showing exactly what i mean, it is so bad i often avoid driving down that road!!
also next time you drive through Ballincollig picture it in about 10 years time
I had better stop posting on this thread as i will only go into a rant about muppet planting schemes