Springtime in the bamboo grove

It’s spring and that means the running bamboos are shooting! New bamboo culms are emerging at an astonishing rate. Below are three pictures of one particularly beautiful specimen – Phyllostachys vivax huangwenzhu, which we call Green-Gold Vivax Timber...

Bamboo with a natural handle

I love the way the nodes on some Golden Bamboo canes (Phyllostachys aurea) grow close together forming a natural “handle” that not only looks attractive but also feels like it’s meant to wrap your hand around.Not all the canes, but some, will have a...

Toot, Toot, Tootsik – Hello!

Although Al Jolson introduced the song, Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Goodbye back in 1927 in the movie The Jazz Singer, I find myself singing “Toot, Toot, Tootsik, Hello!” whenever I pass Sinobambusa Tootsik ‘Albostriata’ in the...