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Don’t be disappointed. Reserve your plants and pay later using the
P&G's plant tagging option.
Planting tips for bamboo and grasses!
Before deciding what and where you are going to plant make an assessment of the area. If you can try to do it early in the year so you have plenty of time to plan ahead.
This is also a good time to determine where the shadow boundaries are. In the early months of the year, the sun is low on the horizon and the shadows extend further into the garden.
Look out on a bright day and mark the extent of those boundaries with a couple of pegs.
Determining
these boundaries is quite important as most true grasses relish the sun and do
best when the have maximum exposure to it, even through the winter months. This
is because grasses including bamboo are incredibly sophisticated plants when it comes to converting sunlight to energy through photosynthesis.
Most grasses including bamboo, with a few exceptions do not generally do well in shade. However sedges and rushes do. Once you have determined the limitations of your boundaries you will have a good idea where grasses and sedges belong.
The exposure to wind and elements will depend to a degree on the of openness of
your garden. The prevailing winds, coastal conditions, altitude and
geographical location will all have an affect on the microclimate of your garden.
Exposure to wind is probably the most damaging as it can dessicate plants and dry out the soil very quickly even in the winter months. It may be possible to erect physical windbreaks such as fences or screens, however there are many bamboos and grasses that stand up extremely well to exposed conditions and the larger species can be used to good effect on the boundaries to form a quick growing living screen that is far cheaper more attractive and wonderfully animated in the wind when compared to conventional fencing.
Knowing your soil types is essential. I say types as even the smallest garden may have a variety of different soil compositions and varying PH levels in it. Most grasses and bamboos are unfussy about the PH but there is always the one or two that are, so check the lists above.
Composition of the soil is also important, a shaded area on the north-facing wall of your property may prove to be extremely dry due to its shelter from the prevailing wet weather winds, absorption from the footings, or excess drainage created by a high proportion of builders rubble and sand that has been left or backfilled. These conditions are not conducive to most sedges and in fact not conducive to much at all. The options here are to dig out the planting area and isolate the footings by placing a polythene sheet or damp course between the wall footings and then replacing the soil after it has been much improved with lots of organic manure or compost and possibly riddled as well.
If you also have areas that have a suitable aspect for grasses, but tend to be heavy and wet, then you can improve those areas by digging in plenty of sharp sand grit or shingle to improve the drainage. Unlike bamboos and sedges grasses don't have a high nutrient requirement in fact many do best on poor soil so there is no great need to incorporate organic manures or fertilizers. An excellent way to maintain drainage in these areas is to make a gravel garden where a number of specimen clump forming grasses can be shown off to advantage within an area of gravel mulch. This will effectively suppress unwanted weeds and the gravel will work its way down over time into the soil and preserve its open structure and drainage.
Bamboos on the other hand do best with a fertile free draining and evenly moist soil. They will however tolerate most condition except to excess. Perhaps their biggest dislikes are waterlogged ground and dense shade. Like grasses they do not take a lot of looking after if placed in the right spot with their minimum basic requirements plus a hair cut, comb through and brush up and an occasional feed.
The problems to be aware of with bamboos is that some are clumpers and well behaved, ideal for specimen planting in lawns or as a backdrop for herbaceous perennials. The others are runners beware some are rampant, such as the staggeringly beautiful Chimonobambusa Tumidissinoda from China who like Genghis Kahn with his hoards will gallop across your lawn and into next doors in no time at all. These bamboos are best kept In containers and they do well being shown off and appreciated as such.
Fargesia Robusta.
Sedge Carex 'Ice Dance.'
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If you give a plant growing conditions that are similar to those that it thrives in the wild then that plant will usually do very well. Its not always as easy as it sounds. Every garden has its own microclimate and although there are one or two things we can possibly do to improve that, usually by adding or growing wind breaks, creating sun traps and opening up shaded areas the options are fairly limited. There is nothing on the other hand we can do about the overall climate in general. Living in the UK means we are living the temperate zone where our climate is very much influenced by the fact we are an island. The presence of the gulf stream blessing us with milder winters than we possibly deserve for our latitude particularly when compared with corresponding latitudes in central China, where the winters can be extremely cruel. Many of the bamboos we sell come from these areas in China such as Ganshu, Sezchuan, Zhejiang where the seasonal changes are far more extreme than we experience in the United Kingdom. As a consequence we can easily grow bamboos such as Phyllostachys Bissettii which is hardy down to minus 23 degrees without much worry. However, on the other hand, we do not have such intensely hot summers, so where a bamboo like Bissettii will quite easily reach over 12 meters or more in its home environment we can expect it to make about two thirds of that in our climate. Usually between 5 and 8 meters depending on whereabouts in the UK we are situated. Still a respectable size for a larger garden and quite formidable for an average one. Although bamboos are true grasses their needs differ from many of the ornamental grasses. Where the majority of grasses are happy with impoverished soil and handle severe drought condition and exposure to the elements such as wind, bamboos are a little more fussy though with a little care in choosing your plants you should be able to cope with most situations. In China much of the very best bamboos grow in hollows and shallow valleys protected from the drying winds yet still enjoying maximum sunshine and the benefits of a moist and fertile pockets at the bottom of the depression. You probably have picture in your minds eye of what you would like your garden to look like, but please take a moment before you start ordering your plants to make a basic appraisal of your garden's disposition with regard to the soil type the aspect and its exposure and also the shadow boundaries, a factor that is often overlooked. Once you know what you have, you will be able to assess whether it can be improved or altered. If it's not possible to improve or alter your garden or the costs are prohibitive then it may be necessary to compromise a little. Now I mean compromise a little, because although the grasses you had originally planned to put in a particular position or situation may now appear unsuitable due to the fact that position is shaded or far to wet. Don't worry there are loads of alternatives amongst the sedges that will literally thrive in those conditions and are very capable of producing some of the most unusual and attractive displays that you could wish for. There is a saying about putting the wrong plant in the wrong place. Basically it's bull and the rest can go with the organic mulch. There is no such thing as the wrong plant; they are all the right plants, just some of them get put in the wrong places. Use your eyes and look around you and appraise. Do your homework and find out which plant suits the soil type, which aspect is best for that particular plant then you won't go far wrong. Finally, if you have planted a bamboo or grass and it doesn't look like its doing well, then dig it up and move it somewhere else. Don't worry about the right time, the right time is then while its looking poorly not when its dead. The plant wants to survive as much as you want it to do. |
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Planning your bamboo or grass garden 
