2008-08-21 I ought to have noted earlier this year that I was successful in germinating the seeds from my Fargesia nitida which flowered in April of 2007. It produced hundreds of seeds and I was able to germinate most that I collected. I started in the summer of 2007 by putting the seeds in a germinating tray using "Jiffy 7 Pellets" and putting the tray in a sunny window. When they were about 3" tall, I borrowed a 20-gallon aquarium from my brother and moved them into a bed of planting soil. I covered the aquarium with plexiglass and it did quite well until the dead of winter in Seattle, when I used a grow light on a timer. By March, 2008, the plants had grown to about 12" and had filled the aquarium completely. I potted up about 30 of the best-looking plants and donated them to the PNW Chapter auction in June. It was a nice experience to (finally) be successful in germinating bamboo from seed.
2008-08-21 Volume 21 (2007) of the ABS Journal is available for downloading in PDF format.
2008-07-22 The World's Smallest Bamboo Discovered! (from Pacific Horticulture, v. 69, No. 3) A French citizen working on the savannah ecology of French Guiana discovered a bamboo that is believed to be the smallest in the world. The mature flowering and fruiting plants are only two centimeters tall. The fruit and seeds are slightly less than one millimeter in length. Named after the collector, the new species is called Raddiella vanessiae. Other members of the same genus range from three to twelve inches tall. The Plant News, New Series 10 (4): 7.
2007-08-26 With the help of Bill Hollenbeck, the ABS Web site now accepts credit cards on-line for new and renewal membership fees.
2007-08-21 National Public Radio (NPR) has had three programs about bamboo in the recent past.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I ought to say that my daughter-in-law (Joy Ma) is one half of the NPR Bureau in Beijing, and I'm proud of her.
2007-07-25 The Handweavers Guild of America, (HGA) wrote today to say they have "published an article about handspinning bamboo fiber. The article, written by Bonnie S. Carter, is part of the Learning Exchange program, where HGA members exchange samples of their work with others. The article appears in the Summer, 2007 issue of Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot, HGA's quarterly magazine. To learn more about HGA, Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot, and the Learning Exchange program visit HGA's Web site." Their Web site also includes links to sources of bamboo fiber for spinning.
2007-07-07 I was in a toy store today, looking for something that would amuse my granddaughter, when I came across toys made, at least in part, with bamboo. The company's name is HaPe International and they described themselves as a Swiss company based on the east coast of China. I didn't buy any of their toys as they were probably not what my granddaughter might like, but I thought they were interesting.
2007-07-05 The New York Times garden section has an article about Pacific NW Chapter member Jackie Heinricher and her wholesale bamboo nursery, Boo-Shoot Gardens. It talks about her enthusiasm for bamboo and her success with tissue-culture propagation of bamboos and gives some general information about bamboo. There's a very nice photo of Jackie as well.
2007-01-01 Richard S. George of Macon, GA noticed an article in the Los Angeles Times about bicycle-maker Craig Calfee of Santa Cruz. Calfee has been building bicycles of bamboo and has gained quite a reputation for these bikes, according to the article. There are photos on Calfee's site. These are expensive, good-looking, high-tech bicycles. Have a look. I then came across another mention of Craig Calfee in the context of producing cheap, bamboo-based bicycles for the developing world. The project is called the Bamboo Bike Project (clever, eh?) and is a collaboration with The Earth Institute at Columbia University. The project has lots of photos of the bikes on their Web pages.
2007-07-01 My Fargesia nitida has just about finished flowering and has started to die. I've collected some seeds and am going to see if I can germinate them. Stand by for more news as it develops.
2007-04-24 Well, finally! I've gotten the 2007 Species Source List converted to HTML and it's now available for browsing here. I know some of the links don't work yet, but I'll try to get it all fixed in the next week or so. The Source List is also available as a download in PDF format.
2007-04-22 Gib Cooper has had an article about Chusquias published in the March, 2007 issue of The Plantsman, the offical magazine of the Royal Horticultural Society. There are some nice photos with information about selecting appropriate varieties and propagating the bamboo.
2007-04-04 Dang, my Fargesia nitida has started to blossom in Seattle. It will be sad to loose the plant. Here's a close-up of what the blossom looks like.
2007-03-30 Doug Lewis of Seattle's Bamboo Hardwoods fame, had a very nice write up in the Seattle Times of 3/30/2007.
2007-03-13 Gib Cooper, director of Bamboos of the Americas, has written to point out an article on the Science Daily Web site about a new species of bamboo discovered in North America. ABS member and bamboo botanist Lynn Clark and graduate student Jimmy Triplett described and named the new bamboo. There are now three species of bamboo native to the U.S. The article is a bit technical, but still interesting.
2006-09-10 If you would like to support the World Bamboo Organization, Rich Delano of BambooFiber.com, has produced some WBO logo teeshirts. The teeshirts com in small to xx-large and are $20 plus shipping. The proceeds go to support the WBO. Write to Rich to place an order and get a deal on the shipping costs. See the Events page for information about the 2007 WBO meeting.
My wife is a weaver and every once in a while she comes across a source of bamboo yarn or fiber. This time it's The Yarn Barn of Kansas catalog which offers knit-spun bamboo yarn in ten colors. For all you weavers out there the cost is $13.50 for a 3.5 oz skein of 250 yards.