Bamboo, a plant easy to live with

The bamboo plantation is a very old park built in 1956 by Eugène Mazel, known essentially for its bamboo, although it contains other types of vegetation. Native plants are found alongside exotic plants.

Bamboo, not so exotic as that!

Bamboos are often considered as exotic plants, although they grow very easily in different climates; and ours is no exception!

Bamboo, a perennial and evergreen plant

The great advantage of bamboo, and what makes it appreciated by gardeners, is that it stays green all year long (the foliage is evergreen). It is therefore a great pleasure to be able to enjoy this light and graceful foliage, this very lively and natural plant, every year in winter.

Bamboo, a plant for fresh ground, but not only...

Bamboo is best planted in fresh, deep and very draining soil. However, it can adapt quite well to more difficult soils. Of course, its growth will be slowed down compared to a culture in good conditions, but you can still enjoy its presence.

Bamboo, an invasive plant? Yes, but...

Bamboo is a plant that lives in colonies. As everyone knows, it sometimes tends to spread and become invasive. But don't panic: if you don't want it to spread, simply cut the young shoots in the spring. Another solution is to install an anti-rhizome barrier at the time of planting; this will limit the spread of the plant.

Trailing varieties and seedling varieties

The last possible option, to prevent bamboo from invading the entire garden, is to opt for non-tracking varieties of bamboo (yes, they do exist!): cepitant bamboos. Contrary to the tracing varieties that run, the cespitose varieties are varieties that grow in groups. You will thus obtain a beautiful clump of bamboo with stable dimensions.

In summary

Bamboo is a plant not to be afraid of, easy to live with, and always a pleasure to grow because of the production of new shoots every year.

The bamboos

The difference between tracing and non tracing bamboos, mainly fargesias, comes from the way they develop their rhizomes.

The tracing bamboos have their rhizomes growing horizontally in any direction while those of the fargesias grow in V, tightened at the base but splayed in height (like a bulb would).

The size of bamboos can vary from 2 to 5 m depending on the species.

Cultivation needs of bamboos

Bamboos appreciate an ordinary and not too heavy soil: the lighter the soil, the more the bamboos grow.

Contrary to what we think, they are not water plants. Watering is useful only when it is hot.

There are two types of fargesias: those that prefer shade and those that prefer sun. If you place sun bamboos in the shade, they will still grow. But if you place shade bamboos in full sun, they will not resist.

Multiplying bamboo

The division of bamboo is never done in spring; only in winter, from December to March.

Maintenance of bamboo

No need to add fertilizer. The grass brings nitrogen naturally, a mulching of lawn mowing (the first mowing of spring and the last one of summer) of 8 cm thickness is enough to feed them, while preventing the development of weeds.

Bamboo is a grass; if you feed it too much, it will grow but become fragile at the thatch level. It can break or even rot.

The life span of bamboo

It is programmed in their genes: for a given species, whether they are one year old or 100 years old, whatever the continent where they are, all die at the same time, having previously flowered and gone to seed to reproduce.

Bamboos, growing tips

The different types of bamboos

There are four families of bamboos:

• the dwarf bamboos, which do not exceed 1.50 meters in height;
• small bamboos which grow between 1.50 meters and 3 meters high;
• the medium bamboos which reach 3 to 9 meters;
• Giant bamboos, which are more than 9 meters high.

75 genera of bamboo exist and are divided into 1000 different species and varieties.

Where to plant bamboo?

Bamboo is a fairly easy plant to grow. It grows on almost all soils, except extreme soils, too acid, too dry or too wet.

A common misconception: contrary to what many people think, bamboo is not a water plant.

The development and forms of bamboo

Bamboo spreads its underground stems all around it. And from these stems, aerial stems called canes develop.

Some varieties produce narrow canes, like Phyllostachys Aurea 'Flavescens Inversa', while others are more widely spaced.

The beauty of bamboo

The season when bamboo is at its most beautiful, when you can best enjoy the swaying of its stems and the rustling of its leaves, is summer. However, during the fall and winter, bamboo replaces its foliage, so it is less elegant.

Dividing bamboo

The multiplication of bamboo is done by dividing the rhizomes. For this, it is necessary to pull out a mother plant, then to separate the canes from each other. This tedious operation explains the high cost of the plant, at the purchase: it is necessary to count about twenty euros for a plant.

Bamboo and its expansion

Bamboo is a pioneer plant: as soon as it is planted, it will want to take all the space. The advantage is that it offers very quickly a luxuriant vegetation, but on the other hand, it is a little too invasive.

Controlling the development of bamboo

Most varieties of bamboo tend to expand because of their trailing rhizomes. If they are happy in your garden, there is a real risk of them becoming overgrown. Let's see how to control them.

The roots of bamboo

Most bamboos, with the exception of certain Fargesias, have rhizomatous and tracing roots, i.e. underground organs capable of containing a reserve of nutrients. These organs move horizontally and serve as a natural multiplication of the plant which then forms vast clumps. If left unchecked, the expansion can be spectacular, especially if your garden conditions are conducive to their development.

Different methods of controlling bamboo

The spread of bamboo is not inevitable! There are many solutions to limit its progression:

The trench

Delimit the area dedicated to your bamboo by digging a trench about 40 cm deep and 10 cm wide around its periphery. You will then just have to watch for the appearance of new shoots and to give a clear spade stroke in the trench to eliminate them. If you prefer, you can also proceed with the help of a lopper which will quickly cut the unwanted rhizomes.

The anti-rhizome barrier

The anti-rhizome barrier made of thick polypropylene, almost rigid, allows to stop the progression of bamboos in a very efficient way, but for that, it must be positioned in the rules of Art! Place it at an angle of 15° to the bamboo clump. It must be installed at the plantation at a distance of 50 cm to 1 m. The depth of the trench where it will be placed should be slightly less than the height of the anti-rhizome barrier so that it protrudes a few centimeters from the ground to prevent the roots from jumping over it.

To hide it, you can install large round pebbles that will emphasize the 'zen' side of the bamboos or cover it with a slate mulch or colored RCW.

The Masonry

The most courageous will build physical barriers with cinder blocks or bricks. Be careful to cement the whole thing so that there are no gaps where rhizomes can infiltrate. Here again, leave 2 cm above your low wall so that the roots do not jump over it happily.

The mower

Sometimes the lawn is next to a bamboo planting that stops at the edge of the lawn. Some people even plant a clump of ornamental bamboo such as the famous Phyllostachys nigra in the middle of it. If you regularly mow the lawn, the aerial shoots will be removed as they appear.

How to plant your Christmas tree in the garden?

Planting your Christmas tree in the garden either to reuse it the following Christmas or to let it grow is planned as soon as you buy it, because keeping it alive during the holidays requires some care.

1. Choosing the right tree

• The Christmas tree that will be replanted in the garden is necessarily a potted tree, which has its roots. There is no chance that a cut tree will grow back in the garden.
• it must be fresh: no sagging branches, no needles that are already falling off en masse, no tree that has been inside for a week or more (in a supermarket, for example).
• if you want to let it grow in your garden, buy a small tree, which gives better results in the long run.
• And finally, make an informed choice of the species best suited to you.

Different choices of Christmas tree :

• Nordmann or Caucasian Fir Abies nordmanniana, beautiful conical shape, dark green, non-scented, and does not lose too many needles. Its growth is slow and it is more expensive. It makes an excellent garden tree. Acid to slightly alkaline soil, which stays cool. Fairly easy to grow.
• Nobilis or noble fir Abies Nobilis (syn Abies procera), very beautiful, it has the qualities of Nordmann, but with the added scent. It is remarkable, but a little more demanding for its culture in the garden. Acidic soil and always fresh to humid.
• The Grandis or Vancouver fir, Abies Grandis, non pungent and with a smell of lemongrass, it is beautiful and non pungent. It is getting too big to leave it in a garden for long. Instead, it is replanted to be used again at Christmas. Acidic, humid and draining soil.
• Omorika or Serbian spruce, Picea omorika, dark green with a silvery underside, is a bit fragile, its branches are brittle, but it is tolerant of the soil and its transplanting in the garden is quite easy.
• the Epicea, Picea abies, less expensive and fragrant, prickly; it loses its needles easily with the heat. Not very ornamental from a landscape point of view, if it is replanted, it is rather with the aim of taking it back the following Christmas. Likes sandy soils with an acidic tendency. Easy to grow and fast growing.
• The Pungens, Picea pungens or Colorado fir is the blue Christmas tree. Its needles are prickly and do not drop too much. It resists well indoors and is easily replanted in the garden. It likes full sun, moist soil and is somewhat more resistant to light drought.

2. Keeping your tree alive during the holidays

To keep it alive, you should:

• do not buy it too early before Christmas, so that it stays in the house as little as possible: 1 or 2 weeks maximum.
• install it far from the heating, and not to overheat the house, install it where it benefits from more freshness (there is often a ventilation near the windows).
• put a saucer under the pot and water it every 2 days, or more: the soil of the pot must always remain wet, it is very important.
• do not put an electric garland, which allows to mist the needles once a day, so that they do not dry out too much.

3. Adaptation to the outdoor climate

• As soon as possible, the Christmas tree is put out in a cool place. But if it goes from 20°C to 2°C too quickly, it can have a thermal shock, even more so if it freezes outside; 1 or 2 days in an unheated room at an intermediate temperature is desirable (garage).
• once outside, it can wait in its pot for a week or two, as long as you keep watering it.

4 . Planting the Christmas tree

Choose its location according to its needs, or according to whether you want to plant it permanently or take it over for next Christmas.

Pungens and spruce require a sunny exposure.

Abies, Nordmann, Omorika, Grandis and Nobilis prefer shade when they are young.

Choose a location where the soil remains fairly moist most of the year to limit watering chores.

Planting your tree to let it grow

In a large pit, twice as deep as the pot, plant a well-moistened root ball, with a few unrolled roots (cut a little if necessary to untie the root bun). In this pit you should bring potting soil, or even heather soil for those who require acidic soil, which is mixed with the local soil; the rootball is buried in it, creating a slight depression that collects the water from the watering above and around the rootball. Water immediately to settle, and if it doesn't rain enough in the following months and then regularly as soon as it is dry, during the summer.

Mulch with pine bark: it acidifies the soil and keeps it cool.

This tree can be fertilized, preferably with compost or manure placed at the bottom of the planting pit or on the surface under the mulch.

Planting your tree to reuse it the following Christmas

The goal here is not to make it grow, but to keep it alive until the next Christmas. This process can be repeated up to 3 times, if you are rigorous in watering.

The tree can be kept in its pot, but the pot will be buried in the ground with a small basin above it to water it effectively. Its roots being trapped in the pot, watering should be very regular. The soil must not dry out. It should be placed in the coolest place in the garden and mulched.

It will be easy to prune and reuse.

It can also be transplanted without pot as before. We will avoid any fertilizer so that it does not force too much. For the next Christmas, take it out of the ground and repot it by cutting the roots too long to put it back in a pot.

If it is too rooted or grows too much, it can be turned into a cut stem tree, which means that the recycling of your Christmas tree is over.

In any case, if you bought a potted tree, you can always try to keep it alive in the garden to reuse it the next Christmas. But don't forget to water it like a green plant during the time it spends in the house. A tree that loses almost all its needles is almost dead.

Conifers for all tastes and all seasons

Conifers are precious trees in the garden because they keep their foliage in all seasons. Resistant, as beautiful in isolated subjects as in hedges, they are part of the fundamentals in a garden.

A wide variety of shapes, a wide range of colors and hardiness are all part of the conifer program!

What is a conifer?

Unlike most trees which are angiosperms, conifers are gymnosperms, which means that they generally produce their seeds (naked ovules) on the scales of their cones. They do not flower in the usual sense of the term. Most conifers keep their foliage in winter (except for ginkgo and larch), which is an important asset in the garden, especially in the case of windbreaks or privacy hedges that must also be effective during the bad season. The tough leaves are often needle-like or scale-like, which gives them a very good resistance to climatic elements, such as heat or cold. The foliage is also less sensitive to evaporation thanks to this constitution.

Conifers for all tastes

In addition to the cedar well known for its rapid growth and its use in hedges for decades, the world of conifers offers an amazing variety that is interesting to exploit in a garden. There are conifers for all tastes and for all gardens, from the largest to the smallest, thanks to the dwarf and creeping varieties.

Sequoias are best reserved for large gardens with their 100 meter height and their consequent spread, as is the Cedar of Lebanon, ideal as an isolated subject on a lawn in mountainous areas which it particularly likes. Whether it comes from Lebanon, the Himalayas or the Atlas, the cedar is always a majestic tree requiring space because it can reach up to 50 meters in height! In terms of colors, the cedar covers a palette ranging from dark green to blue.

The common yew is very interesting in hedges and topiary because it supports well the pruning. Its growth is slow, so pruning operations to obtain a beautiful hedge are limited compared to other trees.

Beware, the foliage and berries are toxic.

Cypress comes in 24 species, the most famous of which is Cupressus sempervirens, the Italian cypress with its characteristic silhouette reaching for the sky. Rustic, ornamental, resistant to pollution, heat and drought, the cypress has enormous assets. It will be used to mark the entrance of a property as a sign of welcome, but also to make graphic alignments marking the contours of a driveway. This cypress can also be used as a hedge.

Among the best known and most widespread conifers are of course the pines. A vast family of about a hundred species, including the umbrella pine with its characteristic silhouette reminiscent of the seashore and sandy soil that it loves, but also the Scots pine, which is more fond of freshness, as well as the Austrian black pine, which is well suited to high altitudes to form vast forests.

We don't think much about juniper in the garden and yet it has many assets. Its bark is decorative and aromatic, its bluish foliage and its berries are all ornamental values. Hardy, it also tolerates drought, heat and sea spray. It grows in all types of soil, even sandy! Among the many species you will certainly find the one that suits you. The creeping forms will be able to cover an embankment, the tortuous forms will be appropriate perfectly in isolated subject, whereas the species with prickly foliage will constitute defensive hedges!