As large tropical clumping bamboo is becoming easier to find for Gulf Coast gardens, so too is the need for shared knowledge of what to expect from these new plants and how to best provide for their care.

Bambusa vulgaris 'Vittata' - Painted Bamboo - along a tropical trail in the Author's garden
Note: many images in this site are clickable for a larger image. Try it!

This bamboo site is an extension of my www.mikenature.com site. I am now growing many new tropical clumping bamboos in my Houston, Texas garden and have much to share about growing, propagating, and using bamboo in Gulf Coast gardens. I am learning about about these giant tropical grasses first hand through experience. There is much to learn and much misinformation floating around. For instance, I rooted some Giant Timber Bamboo and after 3 years and a dozen mature size canes, I now believe the plant is Bambusa odashimae, a species collected and distributed by Chinese immigrants who knew the natural history and uses of the bamboo but not much of the scientific classification of the plants. So as it turns out I have a beautiful plant in my collection I never knew of before.

A favorite bamboo I am growing is the Dendrocalamus brandisii - Giant Teddy Bear Bamboo. In it's ideal habitat is may grow 100 feet tall (as tall as a 10 story building). My giant bamboo will likely never grow this tall but it's still a notable giant in my garden.

These are plants that grow fast. My bamboo friends claim a small rooted bamboo cutting can grow full size culms in as little as 3 years! I am now discovering just how true this claim is as some of my bamboos reach three this year. Even the two year olds are racing toward the champion jolly green giants they are to be.

I will try to cover as much about these bamboos as I can although one person will never know it all. Bamboo has been around a long time and of major importance to many of the worlds cultures. In North America, we are just learning the joys and usefulness of these magnificent giant grasses. Maybe you too will be one of the new pioneers of bamboo growers.

This site is in change, always, but I'll try to add to it regularly. As my bamboos growing and maturing, they exhibit new and interesting features and behaviors almost daily. I am documenting these with my digital camera to share with you here. In the company of other tropicals in the garden, bamboo becomes a feature of great beauty.

Come in, look around and meet the bamboos.

Mike Burnett
www.mikenature.com
Houston, Texas
U.S. Gulf Coast

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