Say Goodbye...

Not to me! Although I wouldn't blame you for jumping to that conclusion based on the frequency (low) at which I've been posting lately. No, I mean say goodbye...

...to my wonderful green bamboos! At least for a few months. Shall I explain?

***

Almost universally, those of us bitten by the bamboo bug (a.k.a. "crazy bamboo growers") want one thing from the plants they love so much: size. We want those huge, thick culms that are so impressive. The only way to get that when you live in a cold climate is to have the plant keep as many green leaves over the winter as possible.

In my zone 6b (probably? changing?) St. Louis garden, this means I hope like crazy for a mild winter each year.

Up until a week ago, I thought we were going to have one. The low temperature for December has been about 10ºF (-12ºC) for one night, and has always climbed back up above normal after dipping down. Just last week it was nearly 60ºF (15ºC). That seems pretty mild to me!

Then they started mentioning those two words that make us bamboo growers start to worry: polar vortex.

Yesterday we hit a record low of 1ºF (-17ºC), although I think it was a couple of degrees F warmer in my garden -- which is a bit protected and usually just a touch warmer. Even 1ºF for a single night wouldn't worry me too much, as it was not very windy (wind plays a big factor in killing those leaves and leaf buds). Today it's "warmer" again, as the low should be 15ºF (-9ºC).

Crisis averted, right? Nope.

New Year's Eve revelers in St. Louis will need to bundle up, as -4ºF (-20ºC) is forecast. New Year's Day is only slightly better with a low of 1ºF (-17ºC). Those 48 hours of cold-cold will mean not only dead bamboo leaves, but quite possibly topkill -- all existing culms dead too -- at least on some of the plants.

Therefore I thought it would be appropriate to take a look at the greenery now, before it starts turning brown -- although that usually takes a couple months. (Images taken today, 12/28/2017)

The smaller bamboos in the front yard are already showing various amounts of damage:

That's to be expected, as I cut these down or at least remove all of the foliage each spring.

Those along the driveway though...

...I'll be missing their big, strappy foliage for sure! That Phyllostachys bissetii I made the support for -- that one will be hard to see turn brown too:

Incidentally, the Sasa veitchii between the driveway and the house is best when it does start to turn brown a little:

It will soon be more brown than green though.

This one is probably going to hurt the most, as it's such a beauty:

Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Aureocaulis'. Remember how I spent so much time clearing out all of the dead culms earlier this year? I hope I don't have to remove every single one of these in a few months.

The plants I'm most worried about are the two that were just transplanted this summer:

That's them at the left edge of the image, Ph. dulcis and Ph. heteroclada. The bushy one in the middle of the image is Indocalamus sp. 'Solidus' -- so cold hardy -- and the big mass of green way in back is Ph. rubromarginata and Ph. aureosulcata 'Spectabilis'. It's so easy to spot the bamboos at this time of year, isn't it?

Back at the other side of the yard (just behind the deck) there's Ph. virella in the planter box -- it may be the most cold-hardy bamboo I grow. We'll see soon.

Ph. atrovaginata is at the right of the image, behind the remnants of the castor beans. I'm a bit concerned about that one as it's a favorite, but it is also plenty cold hardy so there might not be too much reason to worry.

There are others too, but I won't bother naming them all:

I really just included that (blurry, terrible) photo so I'd have a "before" image, thinking that the "after" will be much uglier.

I'm hoping either the forecast is wrong or I am, but I still think it's best to say "goodbye" to these now. Sigh.

.