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Saturday, November 27, 2010

Snow-dusted bamboo

I mentioned that Thanksgiving morning when I was moving my potted bamboos into the greenhouse it was raining. It started out dry, then started sprinkling, and by the time I was finished it was coming down in a steady shower. As the temperature kept falling, the rain turned to sleet, then quickly to a heavy snow of big, wet clumps of flakes.

Phyllostachys bissetii

Luckily that was already after I was inside, but when it stopped snowing and I went outside to get some firewood, I realized that I had to snap some photos. The first snowfall of the year won't be around very long.


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Although it was only about 1/2" of snow at most, it was wet enough to stick to everything.


Bamboo looks especially good in the snow I think, but it usually doesn't hold the snow for long, especially since it's not that cold yet -- just barely below freezing. I'll have to act fast to capture some images before the snow all falls from these plants.

Phyllostachys glauca 'Yunzhu'


Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Aureocaulis'


Sasaella bitchuensis


Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Aureocaulis'


Indocalamus longiauritus


Sasa veitchii


Phyllostachys glauca 'Yunzhu'


Phyllostachys aureosulcata

When looking at all of these photos I realized that you can't more than small patches of sheltered ground, so you can't see snow on the ground anywhere! That's okay, since although the snow lasted the night it melted the next day. Although we typically don't get too much snow in St. Louis, there will be opportunities for more bamboo in snow photos in the coming months I'm sure.

Although two winters ago the ground stayed bare until almost the end of January, while last year we had several snows of 5" or so. I'm not sure which I'm hoping for this year.

4 comments:

  1. Alan, fantastic photos! These are the pictures I wanted to take here at my in-laws, except their bamboos were already buried when we got here.

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  2. Yeah, timing is so important with snow photos, isn't it? In a couple of years you won't have to worry about snow burying those plants though. =)

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  3. What bamboo will grow in zone 6 of Tennessee. It gets below 0 for 5-6 days straight in January every year.

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  4. Annie: I'm in z6 as well. Phyllostachys aureosulcata ("Yellow Groove" bamboo) should do well for you, as should Phyllostachys atrovaginata. If you look at the Jan 2014 posts here, you'll see some of the damage and what's done better than others.

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