This little guy has to go

The smallest bamboo I have is also the most out of control bamboo I have. It's Pleioblastus distichus, and it probably won't get more than a foot tall for me at most.

It's got great little palm-like leaves, and it spreads quite quickly. I'm going to dig it up today.

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Here's the "temporary" place I planted it last summer:

Darn that sun! I spent too much time relaxing on the couch this morning and it's nearing midday, so the sunlight is harsh and making it difficult to get good photos, especially with the pergola casting shadows. Here's a closer look:

(If that even helps.) Some shoots have come up to the right over by the stairs:

It's started to escape it's designated area, so it's time for this plant to go. It's not that I don't like it, it's just that I need to find a place I can put it where I won't have to worry about it too much.

As soon as I stuck the spade in the ground I found some rhizomes from the larger Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Aureocaulis' that is in the raised bed behind this area:

I haven't rhizome pruned that plant yet, and it shows. The rhizomes were a little tough to pull up, but they were all connected:

After clearing those I got the main part of the plant out pretty easily:

Now it's just a matter of getting all of the rhizomes and little plants pulled out.

I got as many as I could, but I probably missed some rhoizomes. If they shoot next year I'll just pull them at that time, or just cut down each shoot that forms. The rhizomes will eventually run out of energy and die.

So here's the bed after I got all of the bamboo out:

I added a couple of potted plants, including one bamboo, to fill in the area.

I got six pot of bamboo out of this planting:

I need to figure out what to do with them, as I really do like this plant:

Here's the bed with the Japanese maple and chairs replaced:

(I really need to get some bags of mulch -- these bare soil areas I'm creating are ugly!)

That really wasn't as much work as I expected it to be. It helps that I wasn't concerned about "damaging" the plant at all, and even though I planted up 6 pots from what I dug, I threw away quite a bit of rhizomes and small plants. Being ruthless makes it easier -- there's no excessive worry slowing you down.