Bamboos shoot to stardom
LET'S face it, bamboo to most gardeners is simply the stick that holds up the runner beans. But in recent years, the bamboo plants themselves have found their way into garden centres and we now have a wide range of species to choose from.
Building with bamboo
ASIANS HAVE KNOWN it for centuries: bamboo is one of the most useful materials for building garden structures. But structural bamboo hasn't been widely available in the United States until recently. Now, as trade around the Pacific Rim opens up, the supply is on the increase.
Bamboo solution - bamboo as building material
Bamboo expert Jules Janssen is admiring a stalk of Bambusa vulgaris. A popular ornamental, the plant can be seen in Chinese brush paintings and along the quiet pathways of Buddhist monasteries. But the beauty of this particular piece, in Janssen's eyes, has nothing to do with its graceful proportions or its polished yellow hull. It has to do with the 78 newtons per square millimeter of compression force it has just withstood.
Books on Bamboo
For the beginner the following books represent a valuable source of information for starting to understand the multiple applications and the beauty of bamboo. It was also mentioned that books tend to fail to represent the current understanding of bamboo, therefore the several technical reports and working papers produced by Research Institutions should be consulted for the most recent studies and information on the world of bamboo.
Flowering Bamboo Presents an Opportunity
When a bamboo flowers, as most of us know, it is in danger of dying. Flowering bamboos do not always die; although many do -- especially in the case of gregarious flowering. Even an individual plant that suspends growth of new culms and foliage for the exclusive production of flowers may die. |
