2005 - 'Our Bamboo
News'
By Roger Sr.
and Roger Jr.
June 14th.
Bruce from Pascagoula, MS. drove up to tour the groves and
get some more bamboo. In the past he purchased from us by
mail order, but this time he drove up to tour the groves and
pick out some new species. It is always nice to meet our bamboo
friends in person.
Eventually, Roger and Russell had it all loaded into his van with no
problem.
Bruce now
has several species of bamboo and is well on his way to some beautiful
groves. He
has the giant Moso, P. nigra 'Black' and nearly 50 divisions of
'Golden' aurea.
Below is our second appointment of the day.
Molly, Rodney and pets visited us from nearby Birmingham, Al.
The first photo shows Russell wrapping up one of the 3 gallon Moso so
they can be loaded into their car. We have 68 of the rare Moso
seedling
remaining from last year inventory of 1248. There will not be any
more after these are all sold.
We enjoyed everyone's visit and hope they had a safe trip home with
their
new bamboo babies.
June 4th
Busy with
several out of state deliveries and then the mail orders are just not
letting up.
We have hired full time help, but the orders
we are taking now will not go out
for three weeks. Everyone has been
very understanding and we do appreciate that. Again
sorry for being
backed up and we are doing our best to get caught up. Below is one of
our
latest visitors, Steve from Atlanta, Georgia.
Below Steve walks with Roger Sr. along the 220 foot elevated deck that
winds
through 17 species of bamboo. The 'Black' grove is seen on the
right side of the
photo.
Steve chose several of our Moso seedlings as he loved
the largest of all the cold hardy bamboo.
After walking most all the groves and seeing all the differences he was
impressed with the rate of
growth the Moso seedlings are showing. We wish we had more of these to
offer, but as you can see
from the below countdown taken from our web site, they are almost all
sold. There will not be
any more once these are gone.
March 23rd. 2004 current stock is
1248
April 2nd. 2005 current stock is 205
April 28,
current stock is 167
May 19,
current stock is 131
June 15,
current stock is 68
May 19th
We are
currently delivering bamboo to Halethorpe, Maryland. The bamboo will
used as on Interstate 895 as screening.
More information and some photos will be coming soon.
May
6th
This week was a very large shipping week for mail
orders and has been booked with
visitors also.
Yesterday Shawn and his lovely family came by to pick up some bamboo
for their
property. They went with several divisions of the big boy 'Moso' and the
fastest species we grow the P.
rubromarginata. With the kids well under control the
tour begin with Gayle showing them all around.
Sometime
we are not the only ones photographing
people.
Great visit
and we hope to see them all again soon!
May 5th
Below are photos and a little news on two new
bambuseros who visited yesterday.
Allison is from Atlanta, GA and is an artist. She is
moving to a rural
farm setting
in North Carolina and will be planting her new bamboo
at the farm. She also
picked out three bamboo for her
mother to begin growing.
After her
selections were done and loaded onto several pull carts,
Russell prepares to load them up for the trip home to 'Hotatlanta'.
Below Roger
shows Allison how to notch
and snap remove branches from the bamboo culm. Loaded and wrapped up
tight
she was ready to head home. A super nice young lady and we were happy
to meet
her, hope she will visit again soon.
John, who is
from
Maryville, TN. had bamboo. He has P. nigra Black and P. nigra Henon
'Giant Gray' and wanted to add to his collection. He picked out
divisions of P. rubro, P. aureosulcata 'spectabilis 'and Shibataea
kumasaca.
Above John and Roger Jr. look over the groves discussing the many
species
and growth differences of each. Below John gazes out over I.
tessellatus which
stabilized our river bank from erosion. Gayle and Roger do a final
count on
the bamboo now loaded up.
John was very nice and knowledgeable. He drives to Alabama fairly often
and is invited back anytime.
April 28th.
Another month is gone and we are looking forward to a
vacation as our Spring mail order rush winds down.
Today, Linda with
Shipes Landscaping in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida paid a visit to us. It
was a six hour trip for her to pick up some 'Black' bamboo that a
client was wanting for a screen.
Above
Linda is picking out the containers of P. nigra "black' for her client.
All the containers have several new shoots already a foot or two high.
We try to be very careful not to break any of these new shoots.
We hope that she had a safe trip home and will return again when Shipes
has another need for more bamboo.
April 25th.
David and Bob from TN. drove down to add to a
growing collection of rare bamboo. Several large field divisions, 8 to
14 feet in height had been dug and stabilized for his visit. A 15
gallon Phyllostachys vivax 'Aureocaulis' was one of the larger
divisions dug especially for David.
We really appreciate the repeat business of David and hope he will
visit again. We hope to arrange a trip to Tennessee in a few years to
see his groves. As Gayle and I near full time retirement, we are
designing a long term bamboo travel vacation. We want to be able to
visit many of our customers throughout all 47 states that we have our
bamboo babies growing in.
April
15th.
We have been wide open with customers picking up orders at our nursery.
We wish we had more time to schedule visits, but with over 90% of our
business being mail order, it leaves little time for this aspect of our
operation. Over the years we have met some of the nicest people. Hope
you enjoy reading a little background information on our new bamboo
friends and their photos.
Chris drove
over 500 miles to get the bamboo and 300 feet of
rhizome
barrier. He had mail ordered from another bamboo
nursery before
he found us. Now he is very happy with the large
divisions of
Moso, Bissetii, Rubromarginata and Giant Gray
we wrapped and
loaded up for him. They were quite different
from the small
divisions he said he received from another source.
Below
is Paul from near Stone Mountain, Georgia. Paul begin growing
bamboo
back in 1999
after he mail ordered a few species from us. Today, he drove over
and picked up some new species to add to his groves. Paul
also brought a
photo
album of his groves and actually had the original species fact
sheets we sent with
his first bamboo order.
In these photos we are discussing the growth habits of this new Moso
shoot.
This shoot will grow to over 60 feet tall in the next month.
Last,
but not least was Jim & Pam. They drove down from Muscle
Shoals, Alabama
with their
very polite and mature sons. They plan to start a nice
privacy screen and
walk through
bamboo grove in their backyard. Later they are considering adding
some low growing bamboo around their pool and sitting areas.
Below I sliced open a new shoot to illustrate how bamboo elongates the
internodes
acting much like a telescope during its first 60 days of life. Jim
decided to go with
the P. rubro for privacy screening. They also took advantage of the
rarely available
'Moso' seedlings, we currently have. The 'Moso' will give them a
large diameter
cane in just a few years.
It was a busy day with a lot of new bamboo gardeners showing interest
in this fascinating plant.
We hope everyone enjoyed their tours and their new bamboo will bring
joy to their life's
for years to come.
April
14th.
Below are a
few more photos of the latest customer pick up at Lewis Bamboo.
Trent from Terrebonne LLC. Landscape Architectural Design returned for
the rest of their bamboo.
Unable to fit all the order on the truck it took a couple trips to get
it moved to the installation site.
Below are some of the last specimens to be loaded.
Owner, Roger Jr., and our bambuseros employee,
Russell Crowe,
worked very hard to ensure this order went smoothly from start to
finish.
The last 'Black' bamboo were loaded, wrapped in
plastic and covered
with a shade cloth to prevent wind damage on the way to its
new home.
It was a pleasure working with Curt and Trent over the past
two months on this order. The customer ordering this bamboo
called us yesterday to express his happiness with the extra large
and beautiful plants that we provided.
April
12th.
Terrebone LLC Landscape Architectural Design is the latest landscaping
company to begin dealing with us. It has been a pleasure and they seem
to have good values in selecting the best quality plants. They picked
up part of their order today and will return later for the rest of
their plants as the truck would not hold the entire order. These large
25 gallon root balls of Phyllostachys nigra 'Black' will be used at a
private home in nearby Birmingham, Alabama.
Russell, in the red shirt, is a new full time
employee at Lewis Bamboo
and has really been a life saver
Roger Jr. stands
on the truck and loads the bamboo
for the ride
to its new
home. These P. nigra 'Black' were custom dug and
requiring at minimum of 14 feet in height. We
were able to dig some
great 18 feet tall divisions. These all have
generous 25 gallon root
balls measuring an average of over 2 feet
across and weighing over 100
pounds each.
Leaving to return later for the rest of the load.
April
9th
Friends dropped
by for a cookout and much needed
break during our busy Spring shipping rush. Below photos show some new
'Moso' shoots that emerged from the ground a few days back. These will
be around 60 feet tall in 6 weeks.
This
week we
have a large order of P. nigra 'Black' being picked up by a landscaper.
New photos of this load will be coming soon.
April
6th
We
hosted a group of Doctors and Professors for educational
purposes. Below is some of the crowd relaxing and touring the
groves of bamboo. These nice friends had varied educational
backgrounds and origins such as Australia, France, Nebraska and New
York.
Below Roger goes over some of the fascinating facts about 'Moso'
which is the largest temperate bamboo on earth.
Three species are in the below photo with the super
variegated H. T. 'Shiroshima' leaves showing. We finally
have a few in shipping sizes of this super looking
bamboo available now 'Spring
2005'
Roger finishes up the tour showing the vertical
yellow lines in our P. dulcis 'Sweetshoot Bamboo'.
April 6th
New
bamboo friends visited today and picked up some nice divisions of
Phyllostachys nigra 'Black'. She is a master gardener and was excited
to begin growing a beautiful grove of nigra.
In
just a few short years the two divisions above will grow into
a walk through grove of 'Black' like ours below.
March 24th
Minda was
from Huntsville, Alabama returned again for more bamboo. She was down
on the 1st of March for a load of Phyllostachys rubromarginata. Her
family was so impressed with the change the first row of bamboo made in
their backyard view she came back today for 8 more divisions.
Below
they are wrapped, supported by a large diameter
bamboo pole and ready to travel to its new home.
March
13th
Craig drove
over from Gainsville, Georgia to pick up a large load of field
divisions this past Saturday. He chose the 'Giant Gray' to screen out
some new neighbors in his once secluded log home outside Atlanta. Of
course his beautiful dog came with him and was a true companion. Below
Craig poses with his dog and then stands along side one of the several
15 gallon
divisions of Phyllostachys nigra Henon 'Giant Gray'.
Roger Sr. now days transports the huge field divisions with hand trucks
when possible.
The truck is parked outside the office and is surrounded by bamboo
being moved into
position for loading.
Roger Jr. above loaded the 'Giant Gray' Henon onto the trailer. After
all was wrapped
up nicely Craig headed back toward Georgia with his load of new bamboo
divisions.
March
10th
Another full
day with two customers picking up orders and taking the bamboo
tour.
Several hours were spent with both bambuseros. John had the early
morning
appointment and picked up 43 of the 3 gallon divisions.
During the walk about, John examines a mature P. viridis 'Pigskin'
culm.
After the tour, the trailer is prepped with plastic to prevent wind
damage
from all sides. Below Roger loads the first container onto plastic
lined bed.
Above Roger Sr. positions the load before it is all wrapped
with plastic. Below John is packed and ready to travel. He was
a super nice fellow with a great sense of humor ( note the
Mr. Clean decal on his shirt) and seemed to love his new bamboo.
Jim traveled down from Nashville, Tennessee and arrived around 11 am
for his visit. He has been mail ordering bamboo from us for several
years. He now has seven species. While Jim is a retired chemist,
he loves
plants and a few years ago found bamboo. He now has the bamboo fever
and looks forward to every Spring's new burst of bamboo shoots. Just
like
us, he gets down on his knees to look at new bamboo emerging each
year. Spring time is special to all who love bamboo and it brings
the kid
out in all of us.
Roger shows Jim a Moso division's new shoots. In the
background are 35 divisions of P. nigra 'Black' awaiting
pickup by a landscaper.
Jim looks over the large containers of P. nigra 'Giant Gray'
P. viridis 'Robert Young' and several others. With our larger
containers you will need a pretty fair size trailer to transport
very many. Jim had a nice trailer and for the first time at
Lewis Bamboo, the load was pulled by a new Cadillac.
All these divisions were rooted outside the container
and had to be dug up. We were able to dig around three
feet of additional rhizome to go with these large
specimens. Below Jim is loaded and heads back home
to show his wife their new babies. We hope she will be
as happy as Jim was and maybe next time she can
make the trip.
March
4th
Vision
Landscapes, Inc. visited us yesterday to pick out some bamboo for a new
project. We have done business with these fine folks in the past and
were pleased they came to us again.
Twenty five of
our Moso were chosen to be used at the
new
Homewood
Middle School in Birmingham, Alabama.
In
just a few years these Moso will generate new canes
that will be towering 60 to 70 feet tall. In their new location,
at the school, they will make a dramatic presentation and
should be the talk of the community.
March
1st.
Two new
customers arrived yesterday. Minda was
from Huntsville, Alabama and
James was
from Atlanta, Georgia. Minda purchased from the larger field divisions
of
Phyllostachys rubromarginata to provide a privacy screen at her home.
All loaded and
headed north, we hope she
enjoyed the visit and will be back soon.
James is with
Associates Landscape Services in
Atlanta. He purchased five
different species
for his personal use and was here mainly to
gather information for a client. James will assist
his client in
species selection based on information gather today.
Packed away in
the SUV is Sasa palmata, Giant Gray
Henon, Phyllostachys
rubromarginata,
P. aurea 'Golden' and P.h.p. edulis 'Moso'.
March
1st. continued
Roger
& Rachel return from another out of state bamboo delivery.
They really enjoyed carrying this load of large field divisions to the
new Bambuseros outside of Jacksonville, Florida.
Roger takes
plenty of time to go over everything about the bamboo
growth habits, planting and care. All this is covered several times
with any order and we never tire of talking bamboo.
Phyllostachys
nigra 'Black', P. nigra Henon 'Giant Gray', P. viridis 'Robert Young',
P. aurea 'Golden', P. h.p. edulis 'Moso' and Hibanosbambusa
tranquillans 'Shiroshima'
all arrived in excellent shape to its new home. Except for a few
3 gallon Moso, everything
was large field divisions weighing well over 100 pounds each.
Naturally
these beauties, Fred and AJ, stole the show!
Afterward,
Roger & Rachel enjoyed a nice seaside restaurant
with fantastic seafood before starting the 500 plus mile
journey home.
We try our best to give excellent service and great bamboo plants to
all our customers.
February
24th.
Today
our bamboo friend, Reed was back for some more bamboo! He added four
more species to his growing collection. Reed is semi retired and
enjoying the bamboo hobby he begin four years ago. He first mail
ordered a couple of divisions from us. Then he started coming to
our bamboo farm, each year, to add to his 'growing collection'. Reed is
now adding 'special' species such as the ones he got today. He chose
Arundinaria funghomii which turns red in full sun. The Phyllostachys
meyeri was a good choice with excellent wood for fences and crafts.
He purchased another giant timber bamboo, P. vivax, to go with his Moso
and Madake
that he also has. He also needed a beautiful bamboo adapted to a
wet land planting site. He went with the Phyllostachys
atrovaginata 'Incense Bamboo' or formally known as Congesta.
We
were also busy loading for a delivery to Jacksonville, Florida.
Below are a few of the bamboo divisions going out early in the morning
for delivery Saturday. Deliveries out of state are always
enjoyable. We have done so many over the years that
the inspections and necessary paper work needed for interstate
agriculture restrictions are easy now. Many states require special
certificates to certify the bamboo is free from any harmful pest. We
hope to have more photos of these at the end of the trip. There were
some huge beautiful divisions custom dug for bamboo gardener.
February
21th
The How'd They
Do That? 
episode will air tonight on ABC at 8/7 central. Extreme Home Makeover
presented us with the opportunity to help the Harper family of Atlanta.
The
bamboo was incorporated into Ty's special project to create a special
ambiance for a music room. Bamboo is a
versatile plant that can be used to add beauty to any environment. As a
potted plant or as poles, bamboo can be used to subtlety incorporated
nature into any interior design.
February
17th
The
producers of Extreme Home Makeover contacted us
yesterday to say the show with our bamboo will air on
February 20 & 21th at 8/7 central. The bamboo was incorporated into
Ty's special project. The bamboo was used to create a special tone
for a music room.
February
4th
Confirmation
on another out of state delivery put us into high gear
yesterday. Below are just a few of the bamboo
being prepared for the delivery. Many mail order nurseries talk about
how big and great their plants are. Talk is cheap, we use
photos to show our customers what they are getting. From the
below photos you can see the typical 15 gallon plant size and root
mass. These are large bamboo field divisions and really give you a jump
on starting a bamboo screen or walk through grove. You
can click here our
bamboo and
see the 3 gallon sizes we ship UPS to our customers. Just look at
the rhizome (root) growth below on these 15 gallon divisions.
Above, Roger Jr. heads to the loading area with four 15 gallon
containers
of Phyllostachys nigra Henon 'Giant Gray'. Below pictures show off
the rhizome growth on two 15 gallon containers of P. nigra 'Black'.
Roger burlaps some of the 'Black' headed out of state.
Even with help removing the bamboo from the 15 gallon containers, often
we must cut the container away.
When unwrapped, the rhizome growth was over 12 feet in length with
over fifty new buds. These fifty plus buds will develop into new bamboo
canes and more rhizome growth producing a beautiful bamboo grove.
Note the rich river silt soil. Not potting soil, but our own rich
organic
river bottom soil is used to make our bamboo beautiful and better!
Our large root balls often weigh well over 100 pounds. In the above
photo you can see some 'Robert Young', 'Giant Gray', 'Golden' and
'Black' bamboo for the up coming delivery.
__________________________________________________________________________________
February
1st
More photos will be posted after the show
airs.
January
20th
The
poles were picked up here today to go to their new destination. These
are for the a project that we talked about yesterday. We will have more
details posted later when the project is finished.
As the truck is being loaded for their journey.
Figured it out yet? Check back with 'Our Bamboo News' to see more.
January 19th
We have been
working on a project in
conjunction with some exciting new clients.
Below are photos of giant 3 to 4 inch diameter poles recently cut for
the
project. As time permits, we will be up dating this page with more
news.
We are excited about where this bamboo is going to be seen!
Please check back, we believe you will enjoy the news and photos of
this exciting new project.
January
9th.
We have been
very busy considering the time
of year. Most of our mail orders will begin to pick up in March, but we
have been busy with customers in the Southeast picking up bamboo here
at
the farm. Below are photos of customers, as far away as Arkansas and
some outside Huntsville, Alabama. Digging divisions for next year is in
full swing. During the past three weeks, we have dug over 700
divisions. Around
280 divisions of P. rubromarginata and 470 divisions of Sasa
Palmata were dug. We are in a fury trying to get them potted before the
next wave of cold weather sets in. Reserve orders have been
going strong for the 163 fifteen gallon sizes of 'Moso' that will be
available for pickup in April. With two large landscaping orders
pending, we think these will all be sold within the next few weeks.
Enjoy the new photos and
just let us know if we can be of help.
This photo shows 80 three gallon divisions of Sasa Palmata
that were potted
this past week. We have over 470 new Palmata
divisions dug and
will be
stabilizing them for 2006 sales.
Digging has been very good the last
couple of weeks because of the rain
and warm temperatures.
January 8th
Almost
neighbors in nearby Owens Crossroads, Alabama, Royal and Emily
are new
bambuseros and started their collection
with 21 divisions of 5
different species of bamboo.
Checking out the sizes some of the larger timber bamboo.
Roger
Jr. showed Royal and Emily around the groves and answered all their
questions. They chose several beautiful species and will have some nice
groves
in just a few years.
January 5th
From Mountain Home, Arkansas, Jody came by and added to his
existing
bamboo
collection.
Jody
is growing Phyllostachys nigra 'Black' already. He now has three
more species of bamboo and they all should perform very well for
him.
With his background in plants and living where he does, bamboo is a
natural
choice for him. One of his bamboo plantings will be used
between him
and a
nearby railroad. Others will be used for privacy and to
discourage crossing
his property for access to the river that fronts
his home.