Bamboo at Hakone Gardens, Saratoga, CA

[ShmuBamboo]

Here are some photos I took at Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, CA last week. Note that the giant Tortoise Shell Moso that they had there is no longer. For whatever reason, they have reverted to 'regular' Moso from the Tortoise Shell Moso of years gone by. I did find some Moso tortoise shell bamboos in 55 gallon pots behind some chicken wire there though.

Photos are:
1) Garden gate to bamboo garden
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/789/thumbs/DSCN0921.JPG (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4606)

2) Phyllostachys vivax or Moso as seen from the parking lot
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/789/thumbs/DSCN0919.JPG (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4604)

3)Unknown type of bamboo Pleioblastus hindsii (?) from parking lot
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/789/thumbs/DSCN0920.JPG (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4602)

4)Phyllostachys vivax 'Aureocaulis' stand
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/789/thumbs/DSCN0926.JPG (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4601)

5)Phyllostachys edulis 'Heterocycla' - Tortoise Shell Moso in pots
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/789/thumbs/DSCN0923.JPG (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4600)

6) Phyllostachys nigra - Black Bamboo (of some type) in a stand 7) Black Bamboo (of some type) in another stand
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/789/thumbs/DSCN0929.JPG (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4598) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/789/thumbs/DSCN0930.JPG (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4596)

8) Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Aureocaulis' Nice example of crookstem
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/789/thumbs/DSCN0934.JPG (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4594)

9) a 2" culm of 'tortoise shell' Phyllostachys aurea Golden Bamboo -CC is 2-1/8" on the narrow side
10) Some more tortoise shell Golden bamboos
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/789/thumbs/DSCN0931.JPG (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4592) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/789/thumbs/DSCN0933.JPG (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4590)
(they have a large stand of that and a lot of other bamboo types, though the bamboo garden is not all that large overall)

Th-th-that's all folks! :p

[Mark Meckes]

Cool! Thanks for the virtual tour!
I will guess ...
pic #2 is Phyllostachys vivax
- By the slight vertical wobble in the culms
- The node spacings at the base of the culm
- The overall look

Pic #3 looks like Pleioblastus hindsii (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showgallery.php?cat=563) (pics at Bamboo Flora)


... and ... now we know how to make Moso do the Tortoise Shell

Wrap the new shoots in chicken wire :p ;)

[ShmuBamboo]

I had meant to take a photo of the Moso grove that used to be all tortoise shell next to the main path in the bamboo garden, using the same vantage taken in the photo of the tortoise shell Moso published in the book, Bamboo for Gardens), but right then my camera ran out of memory. Doh!

[ghmerrill]

Hey, perhaps one of you could enlighten me.... the vivax aureocaulis looks like bambusoides castillon..... does the vivax have variegated leaves???

I like the striped culm look, so I may have to hunt down one of those vivax!

Gene

[Mark Meckes]

Hi Gene,
Here's a link to pics of Phyllostachys vivax 'Aureocaulis (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showgallery.php?cat=661) at Bamboo Flora

I agree with you, this boo is on my wish list too.

The leaves on the Phyllostachys vivax 'Aureocaulis I've seen have only very minimal variegation, as shown:

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/661/thumbs/PvivTZAuTX070424-7541b.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4010)

I was amazed to see, when I stood behind a new culm with the rays of the afternoon sun shining on the other side of the culm that the internode glowed like it had a light bulb in it:
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/661/thumbs/PvivTZAuTX070421-7428.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4028)
This is because vivax species have thinner culm walls, which can be a disadvantage in areas with heavy snowfall or ice storms as the culms can break more easily under a heavy load.
Not as structurally strong as some other bamboos, though when material is split it has other uses..

You're right that the Hakone Gardens pic with the green in the groove is similar to Phyllostachys bambusoides 'Castillon', but this green striping seems to be very eratic in some plantings and it could depend on the source of the plant stock and the reverting nature of it's rhizomes.

Here's a similar planting at the Bamboo Farm & Coastal Gardens, Savannah Georgia:
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/661/thumbs/PvAur7-2SGA050221-334.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2468)


In some plantings it displays as irregular thin stripes not necessarily alternating at the sulcus location, and on some culms it can be non existent ...

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/661/thumbs/PvivTZAuTX070421-7413.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4024)

This variation appears to be carried forth in the rhizomes.
Reverting to the green form with yellow strip can also occur ... AKA Phyllostachys vivax 'Huangwenzhu'
See reverting here:

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/661/thumbs/PvivTZAuTX070421-7410.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4027)

Mark

[ShmuBamboo]

Hey, perhaps one of you could enlighten me.... the vivax aureocaulis looks like bambusoides castillon..... does the vivax have variegated leaves???

I like the striped culm look, so I may have to hunt down one of those vivax!

Gene

Not Castillon. No variegated leaves, and they are very tall and fat culms. I looked at them pretty closely. The larger culm to the left is over 3 inches in diameter. Over 40 ft tall? It was hard to gauge height, as it was growing in a huge grove of mature Moso.

I have both of those types here in my garden. Castillon does not get that big (about 2 inches in diameter) nor do the culms get that impessive or distinctive. Also Castillon tends to get bleached out leaves this time of year. I purchased another vivax Aureocaulis on that trip, too. I love that stuff. Some books consider it the best boo that there is. Top of the list.

If you like yellow culms with green racing stripes, look at Phy. viridis Robert Young too. That can be rather impressive, and I have seen stands larger than what the ABS says it grows to (height and diameter). They say that it can grow really slow though. Also Phy. aureosulcata 'Spectabilis' is a close cousin to Castillon, with similar coloring. Though most stands of that I have seen tend to be faded and washed out, culm color-wise. The yellow and green are not as vivid as with vivax Aureocaulis, or viridis Robert Young. I have another post here on the Boo Forum about Robert Young (http://www.bamboocraft.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2715) that Mark has responded to. I am now hunting for that stuff myself...

[Mark Meckes]

Discussion about Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Spectabilis' and P. a. 'Aureocaulis' has been moved to it's own thread:

Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Spectabilis' / 'Aureocaulis' (http://www.bamboocraft.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2748)