Texas Bamboo Society

		Texas Bamboo Society
		Chapter of the American Bamboo Society

The objectives of the American Bamboo Society

BAMBOO MEETINGS IN TEXAS

Provide information of the identification, propagation, use, culture and appreciation of bamboos	Calendar of Upcoming Events
Promote the utilization of a group of desirable species for distribution to public gardens and to the general public	Follow the American Bamboo Society on Facebook
Provide plant material for research in the taxonomy, propagation, and culture of bamboo species	Join us for the grove grooming at Zilker Botanical Garden - - 3rd Saturday of each month - 2220 Barton Springs Rd. Austin, Texas
Support bamboo research in the field

E-Mail Kinder your bamboo questions.

The 20th Annual Texas Bamboo Festival will be combined with the national meeting of the American Bamboo Society - September 28 and 29, 2012.

Texas Bamboo Society at the Houston Japanese Festival April 10-11, 2010

	Carol and Bob handed out hundreds of bamboo bracelets Bob made from the 100 year birthday Moso Bamboo grove planted in 1910 at Avery Island, and informational handouts about bamboo. Texas Bamboo Society Japan Fest 2010 handout
Texas Bamboo Society Booth at Japan Fest 2010

Moso Bamboo Cut and Baked	Bamboo Bracelets Shaped

Japan Fest 2010	Entrance, Houston Japanese Garden

Houston Japanese Garden	April, 2010

Houston Japanese Garden	April, 2010

Texas Bamboo Society at the Zilker Garden Festival March 27-28, 2010

Mary Len, Kinder, Harry and his daughter Apple, at the Zilker Garden Festival

TBS members joins the Louisiana - Gulf Coast Chapter and other ABS volunteers Febuary 20, 2010
for the annual Avery Island weekend and to celebrate the 100 year birthday of the Moso grove.
(The Moso grove is on private property and not part of the Jungle Gardens area open to the public.)

download Avery Island 2010 Group Photo full resolution 3.37 MB


With the help of other volunteering efforts we made it to the	back of the grove this year cleaning up old Hurricane damage.

Volunteers make a difference	canopy

Happy Birthday this grove of Moso bamboo from Japan on Avery Island is 100 Years Old this year 2010

TBS Volunteers groom Porter Texas Bamboo Groves March 7, 2010


Porter Texas Grove Grooming	March 7, 2010

Porter Texas Grove Grooming	March 7, 2010

Porter Texas Grove Grooming	March 7, 2010

Porter Texas Grove Grooming	March 7, 2010

Porter Texas Grove Grooming	March 7, 2010

Porter Texas Grove Grooming 2010

Bamboos are grasses, split into two major groups, runners (leptomorphs) and clumpers (pachymorphs).
The photos in the groves have been of running bamboo (leptomorphs). This next section shows both groups.



Example: Running Bamboo Phyllostachys Atrovaginata (incense bamboo)	Example: Clumping Bamboo Two clumps of bamboo, courtyard Mercer Botanic Gardens

Example: Running Bamboo Mercer Botanic Gardens back by pond	Example: Clumping Bamboo Bambusa Chungii, Blue bamboo

Example: Running Bamboo Phyllostachys Viridis (Robert Young)	Example: Clumping Bamboo Gigantochloa atroviolacea (tropical black)

Example: Running Bamboo	Example: Clumping Bamboo Bambusa Textilis (weavers bamboo)

Example: Running Bamboo	Example: Clumping Bamboo Row of Bambusa Oldhamii, NW Houston HCC Insurance Holdings
Runners generally are temperate, more cold hardy than the clumpers. generally shoot in the Spring generally not propagated by culm or branch cuttings generally propagated from seed, rhizome, tissue culture	Clumpers generally are semi-tropical or tropical generally shoot in the summer generally propagated by division, culm and branch cuttings generally propagated by seed, tissue culture

American Bamboo Society Species Index for bamboo species tables
Species Tables contain height, diameter, minimum temperature rating, and sun requirements for bamboo species.

You can look up the minimum temperature each bamboo species is rated for and reference the USDA Hardiness Zone Map. The majority of
TBS members have some bamboos that should be in a warmer climate than where we live, including me. I have a Bambusa Vulgaris ‘Vittata’
30 degree minimum temperature next to my house in Houston. I have had it for years without a problem but it is in bad shape after last winter.

Growth behavior of a single culm of bamboo including a large root mass without any shoots or leaves of a semi-tropical clumping bamboo
planted in Northwest Houston, Texas the Spring of 2004.

(above picture) Single culm division of Bambusa Textilis, common name weavers bamboo, planted Spring 2004

Generally bamboo produce new shoots each growing season. The shoots grow to their full height in a single growing season and do not continue to get taller or larger diameter each year like a tree. Although water, sun, and nutrients are factors the new shoots on a young bamboo tend to get larger diameter and taller each year untill the plant reaches its full diameter and height. A young culm from a clumping bamboo will die if it is removed from the mother plant before it has branches, leaves and roots. Young culms one to three years make better propagation material (culm cuttings) but are not good for building material. Photosynthesis in culm and leaves decrease with increasing age and the sugars in the culm decrease and the culm lignifies and silicifies becoming useful for building material after three to six years. Harvesting mature culms does not lead to the death of the entire plant.

download ABS 2006 Hilo Hawai'i Group Photo full resolution 2.34 MB