hapter C t s e w h t r o N ic if c Pa ty erican Bamboo Socie

of the Am

Pursuing the endless possibilities of bamboo

Our web site: pnwbamboo.org
In this Issue:

Spring 2011 Newsletter

Letter from the President

The annual business meeting was held on September 25 at my home/nursery here in Shelton, WA. With the help of telecommunications, we were able to contact enough members to a) offer their continued service as Directors on the Chapter Board, and b) elect a new Board of Directors to serve for the next 3 years. The directors are: Phil Comer, Ned Jaquith, Don Asher, James Clever, Adam Williams, George Gearhart, Bill Hollenback, Jim Engan, Anna Foleen, Ian Connor and Robert Kendrick. The Chapter officers are as follows: Phil Comer, President; Ian Connor, Vice President Oregon; Jim Engan, Vice President Washington; Anna Foleen, Treasurer; Adam Williams, Secretary. After the meeting, we had a potluck lunch, and I led a quick tour of our budding bamboo nursery. Charissa held a bamboo crafting workshop (full house!) which was enjoyed and appreciated by all in attendance. For more details and to view photos, read the article by Charissa Brock and James Clever (page 8). elsewhere in this newsletter. Despite our very low attendance at the Seattle and Portland bamboo festivals, our bank account remains healthy, with a balance of about 17,000 dollars. In part, this is the result of funds we received from the now dissolved Oregon Bamboo Association. Until revenues from plant sales and membership increase, the board will continue to be very conservative with the dispensation of funds. You can find the 2010 treasurers report on page 15. Following the excitement generated at last year's ABS Conference, hosted by our Chapter in Tacoma, WA, research at the WSU groves in Puyallup has expanded to include cooperation with other scientists researching the agricultural potential of bamboo for several new uses. With Daphne's move out of state, Terri Bates will be the new business liaison between our Chapter and WSU researchers. The minutes from the 2010 annual meeting can be downloaded from the chapter website: pnwbamboo.org/ news.php. I hope to see you at the next meeting! Phil Comer President PNWCABS 360-432-8493

Report From the Dry Side (pg 2) Corner of Creativity (pg 3) Board Directors / Chapter Positions (pg 4) 2011 Schedule of Events (pg 5) Books! (pg 5) Zoo Bamboo (pg 6) Bamboo Flower Vase Workshop (pg 7) 2010 ABS Conference (pg 8) Bamboo Construction (pg 10) PNWCABS 2010 Annual Business Mtg (pg 12) New Life Unfolds (pg 13) Lets Go Surfing (pg 14) ABS Rep Report (pg 14) Got Bamboo? (pg 15) Renew Your Membership (pg 16/17)

NEW OFFICERS & BOARD MEMBERS Our own members voted into ABS national positions are: James Clever, President/Board Bill Hollenback, Web Site Editor/Board Charissa Brock, Arts & Crafts Director See page 4 for an updated list of PNWCABS officers and board members voted into office this fall 2010 and meet our new treasurer, Anna Foleen. Congratulations to Everyone!

Pacific Northwest Chapter of the American Bamboo Society, Spring 2011 Newsletter

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Report From the Dry Side

by Bill Hollenback

This past summer was a good summer for bamboo here. We had a long, wet, cool spring and although a number of the early shoots got hit by frosts, most survived fine and are larger than past years. My Phyllostachys rubromarginata is almost 14 feet tall where it is growing between the branches of a pine tree. My Phyllostachys aureosulcata also grew taller than 12 feet this year. Next year, I am moving my P. aureosulcata Aureocaulis so the aureosulcata has more room to grow. You can see in the photo that the 2 plantings are separated by a small path, but they have not passed the clay that has been compacted by walking on it in the past 9 years that the aureosulcata has been in that location. I will need to loosen the soil in the path and add compost so the bamboo has room to grow. This spring, 2011, I will also be removing my P. nigra Bory and removing some of my P. nigra. A few years ago, the nigras were up to 8 feet tall, but after the last couple of winters it has never gotten above 4 feet tall. The Aureocaulis will be going in where the Bory is currently. This past summer, I thinned some pine trees on a hillside near my house and added a couple of water lines so I could plant my fargesias near each other to compare hardiness.

You can see a list of the bamboos that I am growing (and the ones I have killed) by viewing my profile in the forum on bambooweb.info . Bill Hollenback Tyler, WA

Phyllostachys aureosulcata Aureocaulis

Pleioblastus viridistriatus Chrysophyllus

Phyllostachys rubromarginata

Pacific Northwest Chapter of the American Bamboo Society, Spring 2011 Newsletter

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2010 Contest Info

Congratulations to the winners of 2010s Arts & Crafts Competition! Visit www.pnwbamboo.org and then go to DOWNLOADS for a .pdf copy of information on the jurors and artists and pictures of the artists projects.

Jurors
Cal Hashimoto www.bamboofinearts.com Greg Kono www.konodesign.com Jan Hopkins www.jsauergallery.com/sagemoon/ artistPages/JHopkins.html

Winners
1st Place Kathy Bruce, New York 2nd Place Diane Willow, Minneapolis 3rd Place (tied) Jim Rinde, Camarillo, CA 3rd Place (tied) Thea Lanzisero, Huntington, NY www.thealanzisero.com

The .pdf file also includes updates on 2009 winners: Donna Crispin www.donnasakamotocrispin.com Brian Erickson www.brieri.com Greg Kono konodesign.com Kent McLaughlin

Pacific Northwest Chapter of the American Bamboo Society, Spring 2011 Newsletter

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Chapter Positions
Newsletter Editor Kimberly Gildroy
pruningandbeyond@comcast.net

New PNWCABS Treasurer

Hey everybody, This is Anna Foleen, your new treasurer as of January 1, 2011, reminding you that it's time for paying your ABS dues. Please see the last page of this newsletter to print a renewal application to send by mail with your payment or go on line to the web address below to renew your membership and pay via Paypal. americanbamboo.org/ GeneralInfoPages/ ABSOnlineMembership.html James wanted me to do a bit about myself, too, as I recall. I must admit, I've never been very good at writing about myself; of course, that may be because I haven't had to do this since I was in 5th grade. Well, here goes... I'm 27 years old and I've been working for Ned Jaquith at Bamboo Garden for almost 4 years now. I've always been a plant person, but my love of bamboo (and all grasses, really) got started in college. I majored in Landscape Technology and Landscape Design, and I always felt that grasses were way underappreciated in the landscape, especially bamboo with its beautiful foliage and amazing canes (yes, I'm addicted to the timbers - isn't everyone?), so when an opportunity came up to work at a bamboo nursery, I jumped at it. Besides bamboo, I like hiking, reading and taking my snake for walks (although you probably guessed that from my photo). For those who are curious, he's a 3-1/2-foot long Ball Python and his name is Monty. I've had him for 10 years now.

425-319-6667

Chapter Representative Bill Hollenback bamboo@hollenback.com 509-981-0664 Source List Editor Noah Bell 503-647-2700

Board of Directors
President/Director Phil Comer stikinmud@comcast.net 360-432-8493 VP Oregon/Director Ian Connor bambooian@yahoo.com 503-734-5735 VP Washington/Director Jim Engan jim.engan@gmail.com 253-631-9702 Treasurer/Director Anna Foleen camassiablue@gmail.com 503-863-1104 Director George Gearhart cascade_gardens @hotmail.com 206-898-1954 Director Robert Kendrick bob@oggarden.com 415-309-8223 Director Ned Jaquith bamboo.ned@gmail.com 503-647-2700 Director Don Asher don@ northweststewards.com 206-331-7526

Secretary/Director Adam Williams cedarmillbamboo@gmail.com Director 503-516-2395 James Clever james@ Director bamboogardener.com Bill Hollenback 206-371-1072 bamboo@hollenback.com 509-981-0664

Pacific Northwest Chapter of the American Bamboo Society, Spring 2011 Newsletter

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PNWCABS Events in 2011

Seattle Bamboo Festival
Saturday, June 11, 2011 9am - 3pm Bamboo Hardwoods, Inc. 4100 4th Ave S. Seattle, WA 98134 (business meeting to follow) bamboohardwoods.com

_____________________ Annual Business Meeting

Saturday, September 10, 2011 11am Outdoors By Design, LLC 221 SE SR-3 Shelton, WA 98584 outdoorsbydesign.com

_____________________ Portland Bamboo Festival

Sunday, July 31 9am-3pm Hoyt Arboretum Picnic Shelter contact: Adam Williams 503-

_____________________ Summer Campout

To Be Announced

516-2395

Available on Amazon.com This book includes designs of traditional Japanese bamboo fences, as well as diagrams illustrating the basic techniques of creating a fence including splitting bending, joining and tying bamboo. Paired with step-by-step instructions, these designs will prove the perfect starting point for those who aspire to become a professional garden designer.1 4-star rating from 5 reviews used and new available approximate price $10-14 Paperback: 142 pages Publisher: Japan Publications Trading; Third printing edition (October 5, 2001) Language: English ISBN-10: 4889960805 ISBN-13: 978-4889960808

Other Bamboo Events in 2011

Annual Moso Grove Grooming Event
February 11-13, 2011 Avery Island, Lousiana See events calendar at site below for more info. lgcc-abs.org

_____________________ Zilker Garden Festival

March 26-27, 2011 Austin, TX Many garden related vendors, music, food and bamboo also at this annual fund raising event benefiting Zilker Botanical Garden zilkergarden.org

Pacific Northwest Chapter of the American Bamboo Society, Spring 2011 Newsletter

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Bamboos of the Tropical Rain Forest

Woodland Park Zoo

Zoo Bamboo, Part 2

Plants at the Zoo

by James Clever and Carole Rush, Docent The first of a series of articles on the zoos bamboo collection appeared in October Ramblings. This second article comes principally from the article Zoo Bamboo in Plant Guide: Woodland Park Zoological Gardens. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Bamboos of the Tropical Rain Forest

In the Tropical Rain Forest exhibit, you will see only one actual tropical bamboo. It grows inside the main building, since tropical plants do not fare well outside in our region. However, a variety of temperate bamboo species grow along the outdoor pathways. All help create the ambience of a very special tropical forest. Our tour begins with an immersion into this tropical ecosystem at the door to the Tropical Rain Forest (TRF) building. Once you have walked through the entrance of the TRF building, follow the rain forest trail to the canopy. Near the exit, look to the left for one of the most beautiful bamboo species, Bambusa vulgaris Vittata. This Southeast Asian timber bamboo has bright yellow culms (or canes) marked by broad-to-narrow green vertical stripes. This species is the worlds most widely distributed bamboo. Its high starch content makes it highly susceptible to beetle attack and thereby limits its use in construction or fine handicrafts. Nevertheless, the rarity of its flowering and its quick comeback and rapid growth even after a clear-cut harvest make it very desirable in the West for paper pulp. It is also an excellent species for erosion control. Exit the building and turn to the left. Tucked back in just outside the exit is Phyllostachys viridis Robert Young. Shortly beyond on the left is Chimonobambusa quadrangularis, known as square bamboo because the culms are square in cross-section. Follow the path across the bridge. On the right, you will see golden bamboo (Phyllostachys aurea), which is common to the Northwest and to the rest of the US. The gold-toned canes with several short internodes make excellent fishing pole handles. This species is also on the path between gorillas and the TRF building. Continue down the path and on the right, next to the south DeBrazza viewpoint, is a small planting of Pleioblastus variegata (dwarf white stripe). This is the most desirable dwarf variegated bamboo and probably one of the most easily available of all bamboos. The leaves tend to keep their green and white stripes throughout the year. Along this path you will also see Pleioblastus humilis with dark green leaves, another commonly-planted dwarf bamboo. (On our tour, James did occasionally refer to some of the dwarf bamboo as LGB or little green bamboo, since it is often difficult to determine exactly which species one is viewing.) Turn left on the path toward the Colobus exhibit to see the timber bamboo, Phyllostachys nigra Henon, and another variegated dwarf bamboo, Pleioblastus chino Vaginatus Variegatus. Also in this area, look for the bamboo that has noticeably rough-to-thetouch, zigzag green culms with a green groovethe identifying characteristics for Phyllostachys aureosulcata Alata. Near the bench beside the Colubus exhibit is sweetshoot bamboo (Phyllostachys dulcis) a species with arching culms and so-named because its shoots are particularly free of any acrid taste, hence very edible. Further along the path on the left, find a clumping bamboo commonly called umbrella bamboo (Fargesia murielae). This is one of the hardiest bamboos and is good for planting in filtered shade. Umbrella bamboo grows above 10,000 feet in China, where it is important food for the giant panda. (When the original article was written in 1996, Fargesia nitida (blue fountain bamboo) was in this vicinity. Remember that this is the species that recently began flowering, and consequently dying, after 100 years. The zoos planting was no exception in this process.) Photograph Jim McCausland
(Continued on page 7)

Pacific Northwest Chapter of the American Bamboo Society, Spring 2011 Newsletter

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(Continued from page 6)

Continue along the path approaching the gorilla exhibit and enjoy walking through the tunnel formed by large plantings of Phyllostachys nigra Megurochiku. One of the many cultivars of black bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra), which is another of the bamboos commonly grown in the Northwest; this hardy timber bamboo can grow 50 feet tall with culms 3 in diameter. The notable identifying characteristic is a black groove down the culm. After passing the golden bamboo along the path from gorillas back to the TRF building, you will have completed your tour of the Tropical Rain Forest exhibits bamboo trail. In the planters over your head between gorillas and the jaguar exhibit on both sides of the path is the golden bamboo referred to, but also some mountain bamboo (Yushania ancets) added when jaguars was planted. It can be distinguished by the numerous branches clustered at the nodes. Soon, you will begin to notice the difference in the size and shape of the leaves, the overall size of the plants, the color of the culms, as well as the color of the grooves in the culms. Best of all, you will realize the importance of this magnificent bamboo collection in creating not only the ecosystem effect, but in beautifying the grounds we wander with visitors. Sources: Plant Guide: Woodland Park Zoological Gardens, Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin Vol. 58:3 Copyright by the Arboretum Foundation, Seattle Washington. Used by permission of the Arboretum Foundation." Book of Bamboo by David Farrelly (ISBN 0-87156-824-1 or ISBN 0-87156-825-X for paperback) *James Clever, an amateur botanist, has been a member of the ABS since 1986. He was president of the Pacific Northwest Chapter from 1990-1992 and is currently an active member on the board of directors of the American Bamboo Society. He owns Bamboo Gardener LLC, a small business specializing in hardy bamboo. For more information see www.bamboogardener.com.

Bamboo Flower Vase Workshop

by James Clever and Charissa Brock On Saturday, September 25, 2010, Charissa Brock taught a bamboo flower vase workshop at Phil Comers lovely nursery and landscaping business, Outdoor by Design. The day of the workshop started out with a meeting of the PNWCABS followed by a delicious potluck. - James Clever "Phils workshop space was a great place for the class, with high ceilings and 2 garage doors, for an abundant supply of natural lighting. The class of 7 students started by learning about how to prepare bamboo as an art material and how bamboos structure lends itself to become a vessel. A few hundred examples of techniques for working with bamboo were available for student s to touch, examine and photograph. After the students' materials were prepared and looking beautiful, they spent time learning how to cut bamboo, create square holes in bamboo, how to heat bend bamboo, and how to tie and bind it together. Each technique was demonstrated, followed by a work time for the students. The last hour of the class, the students worked in a circle, focusing on learning how to make a traditional Japanese caning knot using bleached rattan. All of the students left with a flower vase in hand, ready to go home and arrange flowers or make another vase using materials they purchased in class. The students were terrific, enthusiastic and as appreciative of their new knowledge as I was of them. All in all, it was a wonderful day." - Charissa

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2010 ABS Conference Savannah, GA

by Bill Hollenback

This year was another great conference. This one was hosted by the Southeast Chapter and held in Savannah, GA. The Conference experience for me started with the flight being delayed out of Seattle. Then after running through the Atlanta airport, James Clever and I caught our next flight and made it to Savannah in time for Sue Turtle and Bill King to take Durnford Dart, his wife and us to the hotel. The first day in Savannah was the ABS Board meeting. Most of the talking kept coming back to keeping and expanding our membership. One way is to increase our web presence and to that end we agreed to hire a web design company to do an initial rewrite of the website and expand the number of people that will manage the site. We have also started an American Bamboo Society Facebook Page. The Thursday tour and workshop was held at the UGA Bamboo Farm & Coastal Garden near Savannah. The farm has a large collection of bamboo and other plants from its days as a USDA Plant Introduction Station. Along with tours of the garden were lectures on the history and bamboos at the garden. Carol Stangler also gave a 3-hour workshop on crafting with bamboo.

Phyllostachys bissetii Daphne Lewis, Ned Jaquith, James Clever at the Byron Station

On Friday, the conference started with presentations on bamboos economic potential and continued in the afternoon with presentations from Durnford Dart (Shoot Production) and Will Hooker (Sustainable Art). On Saturday, the presentations continued, ending with a presentation on the native cane from Julian Campbell. After lunch was the Annual ABS general meeting and then the ABS fund raising auction. The Board had a short meeting to elect new officers and James Clever was elected president. That evening was the dinner and a live band at the hotel. On Sunday, there was a bus trip to Byron, Georgia and the USDA Fruit & Nut Station where there are a number of plots of different bamboos. After Lunch, we visited a couple of groves with big bamboo. Those were the planned events at the conference, but the real enjoyment for me was spending time with people that I have met at past conferences and meeting new bamboo lovers. There were plenty of breaks between presentations to meet with people. Each evening, we walked around Savannah until we ended up at a restaurant where we would continue to get to know each other. James Clever and I booked the same flights to and from Savannah, so we worked on the flights and on the way back we made plans for the coming year. With James as the president, it looks like it will be a good and exciting year for the ABS. Next year, the conference will be in Louisiana, the second week of Photograph Jim McCausland October. I hope to see a lot of you there. Bill Hollenback

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UGA Bamboo Farm & Coastal Garden near Savannah

UGA Bamboo Farm & Coastal Garden near Savannah

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Question and Answer with Andry Widyowijatnoko, bamboo building designer

Bamboo Construction

Editor: What is the history of how you got into building with bamboo? Andry: In 1999, I wrote my master's thesis about plastered bamboo construction, after I found many houses with timber skeletons and woven bamboo as building partitions and covered by plastering. These houses were in service for almost 100 years in Lumajang, Indonesia. They were built by Dutch colonialists in a sugar factory complex. In this master's thesis, I developed the new concept of plastered bamboo construction, which uses bamboo not only as the partition, but also as a structural element. Plaster was used to cover the bamboo for aesthetical and preservation purposes. Editor: What is the history of the buildings you have designed? Andry: The concept of my new development of plastered bamboo is to provide low-cost building; replacing brick and utilizing bamboo. It is even a very good alternative for emergency shelter, as well as for postdisaster rehabilitation; that is why most of the activity in this area (designing, training, building) are for charity, funded by nonprofit organizations or non-governmental organizations, such as Environmental Bamboo Foundation (EBF), Global Green Fund and Volunteer Asia, Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team (AMURT), etc. After traveling in Colombia for almost 3 months to study bamboo architecture in 2006, funded by Environmental Bamboo Foundation, I found the new horizon on how to promote bamboo in Indonesia by changing the image of poor mans timber to a valuable material with a high-end design. Since then, I have tried to promote bamboo not only for low-cost building but also for luxurious building, and dealing not only with plastered bamboo construction but also with bamboo pole construction. One of the important accomplishments in designing and building with bamboo poles was the project in East Bali Poverty Project (EBPP) in 2007. There, I designed and trained the people who have no experience in modern bamboo construction to build their own community building. I continue to train people, especially my students at the Department of Architecture, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia. I have conducted many workshops as well as lectures, seminars, etc. Now I conduct the Bamboo Seminar in Chair of Structures and Structural Design, Faculty of Architecture, RWTH Aachen University in Germany during my doctoral study. The most widely recognized and appreciated design was the facility of Outward Bound Indonesia in Jatiluhur in 2008. There, I designed the main hall (later called Great Hall), office, dormitory and restaurant. It was my biggest dream to design a high-end bamboo building in West Java, which is close to the capital city of Jakarta, so it will have a good appreciation and coverage by the media. It will be a good promotion to use bamboo.
Great Hall OBI, designer Andry Widyowijatnoko photo courtesy of Eko Purwono

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The Great Hall OBI is a hall with an oval plan with the minimal span of 20 m and maximal of 31 m without any column in the middle. The main structure is double-layer and double-deck frame in the perimeter with an additional floating roof structure in the middle. With this rigid frame, I can have a corridor and a mezzanine floor in the perimeter. Made with more that 8000 bamboos, the structure provides beauty of the repetitive frame, the detail and the effect of the skylight to the floor. Editor: Can you explain any of the processes of building with bamboo? Andry: It was different from one project to the next, different from one type of bamboo construction to another. For example, plastered bamboo Great Hall OBI, designer Andry Widyowijatnoko to bamboo pole construction: Bamboo pole construction, the most photo courtesy of Eko Purwono widely used in today's construction, is bamboo construction with bolted joints (in my classification, I called it modernized conventional bamboo construction). This type of construction uses long bolts as connectors, so we can make a bigger bamboo column or a higher bamboo beam compared to what can be done in traditional bamboo construction. The most important tool is an electric drill with a long or lengthened drill bit and, of course, long bolts. A circular saw is also important to make a fish-mouth connection, although it can be replaced by traditional tools or chisel. Editor: Do you have any opinion on the differences in buildings made of bamboo versus buildings made with other materials (pros, cons, etc)? Andry: If we talk about building with bamboo, we have to be more specific, because bamboo can be poles, splits, woven, flatten or even laminated bamboo. Bamboo can be also as concrete reinforcement (see paper of classification of bamboo construction). Here, I will only talk about bamboo pole construction. Bamboo is a unique material. Each individual pole is unique with its own diameter, wall thickness, node interval, straightness, mechanical properties, etc., so working with bamboo one has to take all of these factors into consideration. Because of these variations, plus other characteristics, joining bamboo is the biggest problem in bamboo construction; so, when designing bamboo, one of the first things to do is to determine the connection. The beauty of bamboo construction lies in the rhythm of repetitive structure, the detail of the frame, and thus can be enjoyed from the interior. That is why most of bamboo buildings are single buildings with simple form. If the form is complicated, then the detail and the interior will be overcrowded.
For more detailed information regarding bamboo construction and Andrys projects, go to pnwbamboo.org and then to DOWNLOADS for: Andrys Bamboo Projects 040111.pdf Bamboo Classification in WBC VIII.pdf The Great Hall built for Outward Bound Indonesia outwardboundindo.org

Great Hall OBI, designer Andry Widyowijatnoko photo courtesy of Eko Purwono

Pacific Northwest Chapter of the American Bamboo Society, Spring 2011 Newsletter

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PNWCABS Annual Business Meeting September 2010

By James Clever The PNWCABS annual business meeting was held on Saturday, September 25, 2010 at the Outdoors By Design nursery, in Shelton, WA. Phil Comer, our chapter president, is part owner of Outdoors By Design, a full-service landscape company. Since 2007, along with business partners, Leslie and Travis, Phil has been working to convert 2.5 acres of neglected Christmas trees into a bamboo nursery and garden. After a couple-hour meeting hashing out old and new business, we enjoyed a bountiful feast potluck lunch. Then, out into the garden we went to tour the place. By this time, a group of members was busy in a bamboo workshop in one of the outbuildings. The weather was perfect; no wind, sunny, blue skies after days of rain and in the 70s - a great day for a tour and taking pictures of bamboo with friends. The garden around the house was landscaped with clumping bamboos, used in partnership with perennials and conifers and as stand-alone specimens. The use of hardy-temperate clumping bamboos were the prominent featured plants of this garden. There were running bamboos and also a small sampling of the less-aggressive runners, some with colorful canes and a couple of fledgling groves of timber-size bamboo. I really think Phil and his associates have hit the nail on the head with this garden. People really have to see them in their mature state in a garden with a normal-size house next to them. This area of the state has a very interesting climate and yearround weather patterns; in the summer, it is real dry and sunny to the point of getting hot in the 70s to 90s; in the spring and fall, it is warm to mold and can get bucketfuls of rain; in the winter, it can get very cold with tons of snow - mostly, though, just massive amounts of rain. The trees around there get big. Grand Firs that love water thrive like weeds and the soil is dark and rich. Phil showed us the bamboos and explained how some bamboo that is supposed to be hardy gets burned or just flat out dies to the ground. Some day, I would like to see a list of what bamboos do well there and what gets trashed. The Fargesias looked like they like Shelton. Most of the Phyllostachys look like they could be trouble if left unmaintained in their rhizome spread. The possibility for large groves of the runners sure look possible. Rich soil and lots of rain water can certainly grow big bamboo. Being that Phils business is landscaping, these clumping bamboo are just the plant to fill the average gardener's thirst for bamboo that grows well, looks good year round and stays in one place with a very slow creeping spread. One of my favorite places in the garden was a spiral planting of Phil Comer - Fargesia nitida 'Jiuzhaigou' mixed bamboos a short distance from the house, using shortergrowing bamboo (Fargeia rufa) on the outer edges, taller bamboo (Fargesia scabrida) in the inner and (Fargesia robusta) in the center part. When it has grown to full size in a few years, the bamboo will form walls that hide the inner path to the center of the labyrinth. The plan is to place an acoustical feature, such as a drum, wind chime or water feature, at the center of the labyrinth, hidden behind living bamboo walls. Curious visitors will be drawn down the path to the invisible source of pleasant sounds. Fargesia rufa We always welcome members and non-members alike to participate in our meetings and garden festivities, so whether you are a long-time member or brand new to bamboo, next time there is a meeting on the schedule, call in sick from that job, bring the kids and the other half and join us!

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Location: Lake Stevens, WA Pictures Taken By: Kimberly Gildroy

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Lets Go Surfing!
A wealth of bamboo products and information at your fingertips The roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art sprouts a bamboo forest.
http://inhabitat.com/the-roof-of-the-ny-metropolitan-sprouts-a-bristling-bamboo-forest/

Booshoot Tissue Culture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TooMSbuZR6c

Booshoot Wins Martha Stewart Award

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ySIJJbGgWY

Chinese Man Lives in mobile, egg-shaped bamboo house

http://www.tonic.com/article/man-lives-in-mobile-egg-shaped-sustainable-house-in-beijing/

Moso Bamboo on Avery Island

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9lT-cCJm24 The footage was taken this February at the annual grove cleanup sponsored by the Louisiana Gulf Coast Chapter. The Grove is 100 years old and 65 people came for the work party. People came from as far away as Washington (me), Oregon (Dain Sansome and his father), Florida, Texas and no doubt other states as well as Louisiana. - Daphne Lewis

Farm Bamboo for Profit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI1rzC9mZdo

Bamboo Grove Thinning - Georgia Bamboo's bamboo collection in Bonaire, Georgia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8PnzYheuF4

ABS Representative Report

by Bill Hollenback Things are still slow on the national level. The last I heard of the bamboo shelters in Haiti is that 2 buildings are stuck in Port-AuPrince waiting for the correct official to be bribed. The current focus of the effort is to start bamboo plantations in Haiti. The ABS approved $2500 for the WSU bamboo research groves last June and the researchers have a number of things planned for the groves, including working with other universities on uses for the bamboo. Currently, we are having the on-line portion of the ABS auction that will finish with the live auction in Savannah during the conference. The signup for the 2011 Source List is on track for the end of November. We are also starting to redo the ABS website with the new pages at bamboo.org. The Species Source List is now on line and we hope to progress faster after the ABS conference. We are also looking for people to help with the websites. Contact me if you are interested. Bill Hollenback, Representative of the Pacific Northwest Chapter to the American Bamboo Society (ABS)

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Beaverto n, OR

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Renew Your Membership!

Use the form on the last page to renew your membership. Send the form with check or credit card information. No cash please. Checks should be made out to: American Bamboo Society 315 S Coast Highway 101 Ste U PMB 212 Encinitas, CA 92024-3555
IMPORTANT NOTE: This newsletter is only available on line at pnwbamboo.org. To find the newsletters, go to pnwbamboo.org, click on DOWNLOADS, click on NEWSLETTERS, and click on the blue down-arrow of the newsletter you would like to view. You can print the newsletter from the view. You must have Adobe reader to view the file. If you do not have this, go to ADOBE.COM and click on the icon that says get ADOBE reader. It is a free program. www.pnwbamboo.org

Or renew on line! (and pay through PayPal) at:

americanbamboo.org/GeneralInfoPages/ABSOnlineMembership.html

See the next page for application and additional information regarding membership benefits and dues.

Advertise in our newsletters! $25 for the whole year Send a scanned business card to Anna Foleen at: camassiablue@gmail.com Contact Anna via e-mail for her mailing address to send payment.

Have questions about whether you need to renew your membership or not? e-mail Bill Hollenback bamboo@hollenback.com
Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Spectabilis' picture by Kimberly Gildroy, Lake Stevens, WA

Pacific Northwest Chapter of the American Bamboo Society, Spring 2011 Newsletter

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