Bamboo and Elephants

Yesterday our crew was busy culling canes from a stand of Bambusa chungii.

Objective:  Remove enough leafy canes to fill a 12-foot long by 3-foot high trailer.  The canes would then be transported to Tampa where they will be given to elephants in the Barnum and Bailey circus.

For the next several months, canes cut from the groves at Beautiful Bamboo will supplement the diet of Asian elephants in the circus.

In the wild, Asian Elephants like this one in Laos are accustomed to eating bamboo
Photo by Shannon O'Donnell, www.alittleadrift.com

Ryan transports a load of freshly cut Blue Timber Bamboo culms 

Unloading leafy bamboo canes into the trailer

A full load of Beautiful Bamboo to help keep the circus elephants happy and healthy 

Introducing Two Striking New Varieties of Vivax

Vivax is our favorite running bamboo! A grove of beautiful VIVAX TIMBER BAMBOO (Phyllostachys vivax) looks like the type of place where you'd find a panda nibbling away on leaves and shoots.

Sun shining through a mature grove of vivax timber bamboo

For the past four years we have been propagating two new varieties of this most special bamboo - GREEN-GOLD VIVAX TIMBER BAMBOO (P.vivax huangwenzhu) and GOLD-GREEN VIVAX TIMBER BAMBOO (P.vivax aureocaulis)

Like Phyllostachys vivax, the two new cultivars also produce tall (30' to 70'), large-diameter (3 to 6 inch) canes with black rings around each culm section node.  The difference is that while Phyllostachys vivax has beautiful solid green canes that fade as they age to a paler whitish green, Green-gold vivax produces green canes with vertical gold stripes while Gold-green vivax has golden canes with vertical green stipes.

Gold-green vivax has golden canes with vertical green stripes of irregular widths 

Green-gold vivax has bright green canes with vertical golden stripes of irregular widths

All three varieties of Vivax spread slowly until well established, then shoot more vigorously after several years to become wonderful open groves of huge canes.

Our grandchildren enjoy playing in our mature groves of vivax timber bamboo

Our original Phyllostachys vivax grove, planted in 2000, has been easy to control with regular mowing and trimming around the area where we want it to stay. Young shoots of all vivax varieties are particularly good to eat when cooked.

New shoots of P.vivax are tasty as well as beautiful

  

A close-up of the pretty colors of an emerging P.vivax culm 

We have found that inter-planting two or more varieties of vivax in one location results in a most attractive and interesting grove.  

A four-year-old grove of green-gold and gold-green vivax

If you are looking to create a peaceful, serene setting in your landscape, consider installing an assortment of vivax timber bamboos.  One day soon you too can sit back and enjoy the beauty!  

Vivax can create an inviting place to rest

Birds like bamboo too!

Not only people love bamboo...

It's true.  I do love bamboo!  I also love all the wildlife I see in and around our many bamboo-covered acres.  Below are a few of my favorite photos of animals - large and small - taking advantage of Beautiful Bamboo.

Blue dragonfly on emerging Vivax aureocaulis  

Osprey enjoys the view from Beautiful Bamboo

Ralph and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time to see this osprey fly in and land on a clump of mature Oldhamii bamboo. He's perched on the thin tip of a cane that lost its leaves in the recent cold spell. Ralph and I might object to a few less leaves on the stand of bamboo but the osprey doesn't mind. He (or she?) finds the leafless cane perfectly suited for his sharp talons to clutch while he surveys the landscape. The clump of oldhammi (Giant Timber) is right next to the lake, an ideal setting for all sorts of predatory fish-eating birds including ospreys.

Pretty Green Anole on Blue Timber bamboo

A pretty Green Anole poses on a culm of Blue Timber Clumping Bamboo

There are many lizards in Florida including this pretty little Green Anole, the only Florida native of the genus.  I love watching these slender bug-eaters.  I'm especially fond of seeing them scamper up and down bamboo canes in search of their insect prey. 

Green Treefrog

I had just finished helping a customer at Beautiful Bamboo when I looked up at the gazebo roof and noticed this little green treefrog on one of the poles.

Green Treefrog on bamboo pole

I love these small, cute frogs with the white stripe outlining their bright green torsos.  The frog in the picture has adopted the bamboo gazebo as its home.  Great choice!  He's safe and I get to watch him whenever I'm in the nursery.  I often see him sitting on a pole patiently waiting for food to fly by.  In his own small way, the little green treefrog is helping to keep the biting bugs at bay.  Every little bit helps.

Cedar waxwings perch on bamboo

I was helping customers in the nursery yesterday afternoon when a sudden noise caught my attention.  I turned toward the loud thud to see what it was and noticed about 200 cedar waxwings perched on the bare canes on top of a stand of cold-damaged Angel Mist bamboo.  The noise came from the birds' wings as they rose in unison from a nearby mulberry tree to perch on the bamboo.  Cedar waxwings are social birds that travel in flocks from one feeding source to another.  They annually visit our property where we have many fruit trees covered with yummy berries.  The birds like to perch on nearby branches - in this case on the bamboo canes - in between their berry-devouring feasts.  We don't get many berries because of the birds but it is hard to stay angry at such beautiful looking creatures.

Above:  Waxwings enjoy a mulberry feast

Below:  A flock of waxwings perch on the bare branches of a cold-damaged Angel Mist in between feeding frenzies

Green tree frog (hyla cinerea) and bamboo

When I went out to the nursery this afternoon, I noticed a tiny green tree frog, Hyla cinerea, hiding between two upright poles in the gazebo.  I love little green tree frogs.  They're the frogs that make that big noise at nighttime.  Click here to hear a recording of the tree frog song.  Wildlife love bamboo.  Every time I'm out in the nursery I see some bird or frog, a lizard, rabbit, armadillo or other small animal.  When people ask if wildlife are attracted to bamboo I always answer, "Yes!" 

Catbird in the bamboo nursery

The other day I was helping a customer select a number of Alphonse karr bamboos in the nursery when a pretty gray catbird fluttered by. The surprisingly bold bird was not bothered by my presence and let me shoot several pictures before he (she?) decided to fly off to another, less peopled spot.

So many times customers ask if wildlife is attracted to the bamboos and I always answer, "Yes!"  

While all sorts of wildlife are attracted to bamboos, birds are probably the ones I see the most often.  I can't count the number of different bird species attracted to our bamboo.   

Birds are constantly flitting in and out of the branches, building nests in the middle of thick clumps and, in general, enjoying the safety and security provided by both large and small bamboo plantings.  This particular catbird was especially friendly and reminded me how glad I was to always have my camera with me when I head out to help a customer.

Photos of Giant Timber (Bambusa oldhamii)

While rowing in the lake, I took a couple pictures of some mature Oldhamii's along the shore.  The best way to really appreciate the tall, elegant profile of Giant Timber, it is view it from a distance.

 

and below a close up shot of the same bamboo..

Notice how straight, Giant Timber (Oldhamii) grows.  This bamboo is 8 years old but it has looked very much the same for the past 5 years. It normally takes about 3 years for a bamboo to mature.  After that the culms continue to increase in diameter and grow taller but most of the dramatic growth occurs in the early years when cane height and culm diameter more than doubles in size over a relatively short period of time.

Below are two pictures of young Oldhamii shoots emerging around existing canes from previous years.  Like all clumping bamboos, Oldhamii begins sending up new shoots in late spring when the weather warms and continues shooting throughout the summer and into the fall. 

 

 

 

  

Below is an example of two 7-gal Oldhamiis - tall plants in our nursery with 1-3 canes each. 

 

Our son Toby stands inside a large clump of Giant Timber.  Toby is now much bigger and the bamboo is too!

Below is a line of 15-gal plants in our nursery.  The 15-gal plants are much taller and fuller than those in the 7-gal containers because they can support larger root systems.  In all bamboos it is the size of the root system that determines not only how many canes are produced each year but also their height and diameter.

Below, a sandhill crane struts past a mature stand of Oldhamii bamboo.