Bamboo Plants

What Is Bamboo?
OK, you're probably familiar with it as a construction material. Perhaps you own shades made of it. Even if you've never actually seen a hut constructed out of it, in person, you've probably seen such structures on TV. But as wild vegetation, how exactly are bamboo plants classified? Here's some information.

What Are the Uses for Bamboo Plants?
Bamboo plants grow in the wild in numerous regions around the globe. And the people that rub shoulders with these vigorous growers put them to all kinds of uses. The primary focus in my articles is on bamboo as a privacy hedge, but, in this FAQ, I try to capture something of the variety of uses to which these plants can be put.

What's the Difference Between Running Bamboos and Clumping Bamboos?
The difference is not just an academic one. In fact, knowing the difference can save you a lot of headaches further down the road. That's because, depending on which type you choose to grow, invasiveness can be a major problem. Clumping bamboo plants behave quite differently from than running cousins.

Is There a Way of Containing Bamboo Plants?
In their foreign policy speeches, politicians sometimes speak of "containment policies." As aggressive as some types of bamboo plants can be, you'd better have a containment policy of your own if you choose to grow them! One way of containing them is by using bamboo barriers. Here I provide information about sinking plastic bamboo barriers into...

How Do You Grow Bamboo?
Have you had enough background information? Are you ready to learn how to grow bamboo? Read this FAQ. As with any other plants, the question of how to grow bamboo basically comes down to providing proper amounts of sun, nutrients and water, and furnishing suitable soil.

For Growing Bamboos in Cold Climates, Are There Any Cold-Hardy Types?
You bet there are! In this FAQ I tell Northerners about cold-hardy bamboo plants. Those of us who live in the North sometimes get depressed that the cold places so many restrictions on what we can grow. But chin up, fellow Hyperboreans! There are some plants we can grow that those in hotter climes cannot (really!).

Do Bamboo Hedges Make Good Privacy Screens and Noise Buffers?
My dream is someday to own a home that I can walk out of and not see any neighbors around. Being able to go to sleep without hearing road noise would be nice, too. But that's not going to happen for a while, and I suspect most of you are in the same boat. This means that, to achieve privacy, we must think in terms of privacy screens. Bamboo...

Is Bamboo Eradication Possible Without Herbicides?
How to remove bamboo, without resorting to herbicides, is the subject of this FAQ. I.e., I furnish information on bamboo eradication from an organic perspective. I look at a few different ways to accomplish eradication. Some seem like more work than others, but I would not bet on any of them being easy!

Is Mexican Bamboo Really a Bamboo?
Mexican bamboo is also called "Japanese knotweed" (Polygonum cuspidatum). You can read some introductory information (supplemented by links) about it here. Japanese knotweed is every bit as invasive as the bamboo plants mentioned above. But is it really a bamboo?

What Is Heavenly Bamboo?
What are "heavenly" bamboo plants? It's a nice name, isn't it? They're also called "Nandina" (Nandina domestica, to get all scientific about it), which also has a certain ring to it. But just how are these plants classified?

Is Lucky Bamboo a True Bamboo?
OK, one more of these classification questions. This one is about the so-called "lucky" bamboo plants (Dracaena sanderiana). Lucky bamboo is used in Feng shui.