Greening up the outside dining area at Mellow Mushroom in Jacksonville

Black Running Bamboo in a planter at Mellow Mushroom in Jacksonville, FL

Yesterday when Tim was delivering bamboo to customers in northeast Florida, he stopped for dinner at Mellow Mushroom along Rt. A1A.  Last year, the Jacksonville location of Mellow Mushroom purchased two kinds of running bamboos from Beautiful Bamboo.  Mellow Mushroom is one of our favorite restaurants and ever since the Jacksonville location purchased plants from us, we've been curious about how they looked.  Yesterday Tim had an opportunity to find out.

The object was to break up the starkness of the tall wall with some greenery.  In just one growing season, Semiarundinaria fastuosa viridis (Green Hedge Running Bamboo) and Phyllostachys nigra (Black Running Bamboo) did the trick!

Running bamboos are not right for everyone because they are invasive.  They must be controlled so they don't spread into places where they are not supposed to be.  However, when used as a container plant, running bamboos have many advantages.  The container prevents them from being invasive and the plants' upright growth pattern works perfectly for narrow spaces.  Since running bamboos are also very cold hardy, they are an excellent choice as container plants throughout the United States.  They actually grow taller and have larger diameter canes in colder parts of the country than they do in warmer climates.
  

Another photo of the wooden planters used to contain the running bamboo