If you like to do planting, then you must think of bamboo plants. The idea of growing bamboo in the garden is little bit intrigue and fear as well for the gardeners.
It will enhance the overall look of your garden. As you know, bamboo is a non-native plant. So, it depends on the changing climate. And non-native plants can behave erratically. The growing structure of the bamboo plants is totally depending on the nature and the proper care as well.
In order to understand how to grow bamboo in the garden, you will have to know some important factors about it.
What is bamboo?
Bamboo comes from the grass family. Bamboo is available in variety of shapes and sizes. The sizes are varying from one inch to 100 feet. The bamboos can easily grow a foot or more than that in one day.
There are so many varieties of species available in all over the continents except Europe. The majority of bamboo you can get from China, Japan and as well as from Central America. As we all know that bamboo is one of the mostly useful plants in the world.
The bamboo can be used as food, building materials, animal food, and ornamentation and screening as well. You can recognize the bamboo plants by their nodes, the joints and segments.
The simple and easiest way to differentiate and classify bamboo is to divide them into clumpers and runners. From region to region, the botanical names are varying.
Various types of bamboos:
Here are the various types of bamboos available in the world. These are such as follows:
1. Clumping bamboo:It is one of the most popular bamboo types available in the world. They are not invasive species. These types of bamboos can stay in their assigned territory. Clumpers can expand just like any other kinds of plants. But it tends to stay in one place. It is slowly widening from its centre. But it generally not pops out and reaches other areas of garden. If you like to plant bamboo tree in your garden and like to have a well-behaved bamboo, then this is the best one. You do not need to worry about its expanding and spreading as well. They actually make u-shape instead of spreading horizontally. These bamboo varieties can grow up to 8 to 25 feet. It totally depends on the species of the bamboo.
2. Running bamboo:Running bamboo is not like clumping bamboos. These types of bamboos can spread like crazy if you will not check regularly. It will send out its underground runner and it is called rhizomes. These can send new shots to other parts of the ground or garden. These rhizomes can travel more than 100 feet before sprouting. These types of bamboos can be categorized after its rooting features and characteristics. Running bamboos can be found in any parts of the world irrespective of all climates. You will have to keep an eye on it and its upbringings.
3. Guadua bamboo:This type of bamboo is a part of Neotropical genus. It is one kind of thorny clumping bamboo types. It is known as moderate to large species of bamboo. There are many animals that depend on the Guadua bamboo for their diet. This type of bamboo is generally found in Uruguay. You can find the largest concentrations of this type of bamboo in Amazon Basin and Orinoco. In America, this is one of the best bamboos and it is used in building construction as well. As a gardener, you need to ensure the sustainable cutting of this bamboo type. Guadua is very much effective at removing carbon dioxide from the air than other types of plants.
4. Giant bamboo:Giant bamboo is one kind of tropic clumping bamboo. The native of this bamboo is in Southeast Asia. It is one of the largest species bamboos in the world. It can easily reach the height of 30 meters as well. It is generally found in the banks of rivers. You can mostly find them in Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India. The culms of this bamboo are straight and have powdery characteristic. The young shoots of this bamboo is blackish purple in colour. These types of bamboos are mostly used in order to make ladders, wall frames, floor covering and bridge construction in India.
Apart from these, there are so many varieties of bamboos available in the world.
General uses for bamboos:
Bamboos are used for multiple uses. Bamboos have been used for many applications as well. You can use bamboo for the food source to building materials as well. But many people do not understand the scope of uses for bamboo. Here is a full detail about using bamboo for various purposes. These are such as follows:
1. Decoration purpose:If you want to decorate your home and room, then bamboo is very effective idea for decoration. It can give you some natural vibes. You can use bamboo for picture frames. On the other hand, you can also use it for dividing the screens. Bamboo can be the elegant choice for your exotic decoration. The rough finishing of the bamboo can give you a feeling of tropical gateways. You can also colour the bamboo decoration. So, it will fit any kinds of interior you want for your house, office and room.
2. Building materials:Bamboos are also being used to make more and more furniture. It is also being used for flooring option and even homes are built with the help of bamboos. It is one of the most effective and useful building materials. You can use the bamboo flooring in the kitchen and rooms. It can hold up the perfect structure as well. The bamboo boundary can be attractive enough if you have a large backyard.
3. Clothing and fabric:You may know that according to the latest trends, bamboo fires are being used in clothing and fabrics. Bamboo fibres make beddings as well. It is softer that normal cotton beddings. It is now very much trending and mainstreaming idea to have the bamboo fabric products and clothing.
4. Cooking:In Asian culture, cooking with bamboo is nothing new and special thing. In many parts of world, bamboo shoots are very common foods. Apart from the foods, bamboo is also used for making cooking utensils. Bamboo cutting boards are very much useful and demanding product in the market and many household people like to have this. For non-stick cookware, bamboo spoons and spatula are excellent to use.
5. Medicines:In China, the ingredients from black bamboo shoots are being used to make medicines in order to treat kidney issues. Roots and leaves of bamboos are also being used for cancer and venereal disease.
Ideal growing conditions of bamboo:
The ideal growth of bamboo totally depends on the soil, temperature, sun, fertilizer and all.
- Soil: Bamboo prefers slightly acidic soil. Soil needs to be loamy as well.
- Temperature: Wild bamboos can grow in both dry and humid areas. Hedge bamboos love the heat-loving jungles. Umbrella, Fargesia bamboos prefer drier climate.
- Sun: Large bamboos can grow quick in direct sunlight. These bamboos can shade your home well during the hot summer time.
- Fertilizer: If you want to give stimulate to the growth of the bamboo then you will have to apply high nitrogen fertilizer.
Other plants around?
It is not required to plant other trees with bamboo plant. You can plant other types of bamboos in the same area. But other plants may get disturbed due to the growth of the bamboo plants. So, it is advisable not to plant other trees or plants with bamboo. Actually, bamboo is the aesthetic plants for your garden. So, if you want to plant it in your garden, then you can do it. You should take some special care about their upbringings.
Problems with growing bamboo in North America:
There are so many problems with growing bamboo in North America. These are such as follows:
- Bamboo species is the main problem.
- The climate condition for bamboo is not perfect in North America.
- The condition of the soil also matters in this regard.
How to hack those problems and get the bamboo growing:
We all know that bamboo is a well-known plant for Southeast Asia. But bamboo can grow anywhere. It can also grow in sub tropic areas and old areas as well.
- You can use different and suitable soil for the bamboo growing.
- You will also have to take care of its growing.
- The enough amount of water can be helpful in order to grow the bamboos in North America regions.
- The sun and heat can help them to grow rapidly.
- The fertilizer with rich nitrogen can help to grow them speedily as well.
If you want, you can also control the growth of the bamboos. You will have to understand its growth structure and you can control them. So, if you really like to have bamboo in the garden, then you should go for it without thinking too much.