A rhiddle

Here's a little riddle for you...

What do you get when you mix a running bamboo, a big rotten stump, an unseasonably mild day, and a heavy mattock?

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You get a big pile of rhizomes:

An equally big pile of stump chunks:

Hands that remind you that you should have been wearing your padded gloves:

And a neighbor that is happy that not only will he not see bamboo shoots coming up in his yard in the spring, but the stump that he's talked about having removed is now almost completely gone.

(There were twin elm trees here, one on each side of the property line. I'd love my stump to be gone too, but it's a lot more solid than the rotten one was. Looks like I may be stuck with it for another year or more. Shoot.)

Many cold-hardy running bamboos will swell the shoot buds during fall (or maybe early winter). They'll remain dormant until the ground warms in the spring, when they will enlarge and emerge from the ground.

There are several on these Phyllostachys glauca 'Yunzhu' rhizomes, many of pretty decent size. I buried many of these in a thick layer of leaves. If they're still alive in the spring I'll probably use them as trade plants, pot them up, or give them away.

I'm not sure if I'll be keeping this bamboo, as it's not upright enough for my yard. I'll see what it does this year then decide. Maybe I'll have another bamboo removal project this summer.

Now where's that Neosporin for my blisters?

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