Home
About Us
     ● The Business
     ● Dain Sansome, Owner
     ● Our Bamboo Overview
     ● Contact Us
About Bamboo
     ● General Information
     ● Definitions
     ● Running bamboos
     ● Timber bamboo
     ● Privacy Screens
     ● Clumping bamboos
Running Bamboos
     ● Phyllostachys atrovaginata
              (Incense Bamboo)
     ● Phyllostachys aurea
              (Fish Pole or Golden Bamboo)
     ● Phyllostachys aureosulcata
              ‘Spectabilis’
     ● Phyllostachys bambusoides
              (Japanese Timber Bamboo)
     ● Phyllostachys bambusoides
              ‘Castillon’
     ● Phyllostachys dulcis
               (Sweetshoot Bamboo)
     ● Phyllostachys edulis
               (Moso)
     ● Phyllostachys heteroclada
               (Water Bamboo)
     ● Phyllostachys nigra
               (Black Bamboo)
     ● Phyllostachys nigra ‘Bory’
               (Tiger Bamboo)
     ● Phyllostachys nigra ‘Henon’
     ● Phyllostachys vivax
              (Chinese Timber Bamboo)
     ● Qiongzhuea tumidissinoda
              (Chinese Walking Stick Bamboo)
Clumping Bamboos
     ● Fargesia robusta
Services and Projects
     ● Design and consultation
     ● Installations
     ● Bamboo control service
     ● Removals
     ● Stump grinding

     ●
Purchasing|
     ● Payment
     ● Deliveries
     ● Warranty
Bamboo FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
     ● Landscaping with bamboo
     ● Selecting your bamboos
     ● Planting, care, and control of
              your bamboos

Links

Driving directions to Bamboo Valley
              in Albany, Oregon

Bamboo (FAQs) Frequently Asked Questions

Landscaping With Bamboo

Click here for a pdf of the entire FAQ section.

What’s so great about landscaping with bamboo?

First of all bamboo is attractive. It is a living thing whose aura is not copied by plastic or other man-made materials. It is evergreen, yet has a light and springy air about it. Bamboo does not have the heaviness of conifers, laurels and rhododendrons. Bamboo's wide range of uses is unparalleled by any other plant for groundcover, formal and informal hedges, screens, groves, forests and forest products, building materials, crafts, food, and shelter for birds and wildlife. Bamboo is ideal for urban landscapes as it creates shade and tall screens. Bamboo rustles in the wind creating peaceful sounds. It protects the soil through its deep and extensive root system and shady canopy. Bamboos are generally easy to grow and once they are established all they need is some water and a sprinkling of compost. Once a cane or branch is cut it never regrows. Most temperate bamboos are easily controlled through root pruning by hand if you give yourself enough space around the bamboo to do the maintenance. Barriers are unnecessary, expensive, difficult to install, deleterious to bamboo, and usually fail within a few years after installation.

As a landscape plant bamboo is nearly unparalleled. Bamboos basically require only water to thrive. Unlike trees bamboo culms may be cut to a specific height from which point they never change shape or grow taller. They make effective wind screens, visual screens, and depending on the thickness sound barriers. A single row of bamboo takes up very little space but can provide much needed shade. Rhizomes preferably grow amongst the leaf duff and in the very uppermost layer of soil creating a dense, soil grabbing network. They plow their way through the hardest soils loosening it as they go, making it easier for other rhizomes and creatures to tunnel. Feeder roots and culm stabilizer roots fan out and penetrate deep into the soil (6 feet or more) providing air holes and acting as straws for water percolation. Bamboo roots and rhizomes live short lives, generally less than 5 years, and break down quickly. In this way bamboo, like other field grasses, such as alfalfa, protects and enriches the soil, increases soil friability and cohesion, and helps water move efficiently.

Does bamboo get pests or diseases?

Bamboo is relatively pest and disease free. People are generally the only thing that is lethal to it. An unhealthy soil ecosystem makes for an unhealthy bamboo which will be attacked by mites and aphids. These, however are not lethal to bamboo. Bamboo diseases do exist but they are rare in the United States and have not been identified in Oregon. A healthy soil ecosystem will prevent many types of rot and maintain the necessary chemical balance.

How far away from the fence should I plant my bamboo?

Ideally you won’t plant your bamboo right up against a fence. Simply keep enough space between the bamboo and fence so that you can do the required maintenance—a lawnmower’s width is usually sufficient. If rhizomes get into your yard and start coming up you must either dig them out or diligently cut off their shoots. This will control their spread. Bamboo can, however, cross pretty wide distances, so watch for and cut off errant rhizomes.

Can I grow bamboo in the shade?

Yes. Most clumping bamboos want shade. Many bamboos, however, do not grow vigorously in the shade, primarily due to competition for light and water from large trees. Bamboos often grow lanky and crooked under such conditions. The best way to grow a healthy full size bamboo in the shade is to transplant in large more-or-less full grown bamboo.

What’s the difference between bamboo runners, rhizomes, and roots?

Runners and rhizomes are the same thing. Rhizomes look like horizontal, underground, canes with their nodes close together. Each node has a bud which grows either into a new rhizome or a culm. Roots, on the other hand, are slender and grow off rhizomes or at the base of a culm. Roots, thin and fibrous, transport water and nutrients into the rhizomes. Roots do not have the ability of make more bamboo. Roots are of no importance when removing bamboo. Roots, however, are vitally important when transplanting bamboo.

Bamboo and Your neighbors:

Chances are that your neighbor dislikes looking at you as much as you dislike looking at them. Be a good neighbor and tell your neighbor that you have this great idea to plant bamboo in between you two. They’ve probably thought about the same thing and would welcome the look. They might not even mind having the bamboo spread onto their property a little bit. Just tell them how to do the maintenance or to call us at Bamboo Valley.