Hello all, I am in desperate need of the following bamboos:Ph. Nuda, Ph. Nuda 'localis' Ph.Bissetii Ph. Astrovagita. I am very new to this and have very little to offer. But I do live in Maine and we do have some very tasty berries native to our state. Anyone interested in native maine Blueberries (Maine and neighboring entities are supposedly the only place where blueberries are native, if that entices anyone.) I also have rasberries and blackberries, I know that all of these things are easily available throughout the country and you may ask yourself why bother? I beseech you to consider that these may be different than anything you may have tasted before. Blueberries from the grocery store are completely different than these In my opinion those steridic imposters don't compare. Anyone aware of the flora of Maine and uninterested by the offers aforementioned please notify me of what it is you are interested in so that we may make a trade. Some things to note, it is illegal to uproot many plants here since they are endangered or threatened, also any plant I send will be used to a colder climate assuming you live in a warmer one so its first year may not be outstanding as it is acclamating to drastic regional differences in climate. It will need a cold winter I highly doubt that it would survive past zone 8 it will need a dormant period to recoperate from the stress of the spring, summer, and rooting process.I am very excited about the possibilites. Thank you, Greg

Kudzu - if he won't deliver that far, I'd be willing to ship it to you if you'll pay the postage ;) I remember about 3 years ago I ordered 8 mail-order Nuda. Just before they arrived I hurt my back and did not feel up to planting them where I wanted them, so I put them in a temp spot that was easy digging. The next spring I proceeded to dig them out and transplant them. Every one of them had at least 6 rhizomes going 10-12 feet out in a wagon wheel pattern. It took me 2 hours to dig out each one, as I was trying to keep as much rhizome intact, as possible. Last summer I saw an Aurea shoot coming up WAY out from the mother plant that had been there 2 years. I carefully got underneath the wayward culm and walked it out of the ground all of the way back to the raised bed border, where I snipped it off. I stepped it off at 18 feet of rhizome! This was 1 seasons growth. I chopped off the 3 feet of rhizome tip with no viable buds and then somehow, for some reason?? I planted the culm and 15 feet of rhizome in a 20 gallon pot. This year you'd never know how much rhizome is coiled up in that pot by looking at the few, short culms. Next year, I bet it looks like a jungle in there. Now I need to find a new home for it, as the dang stuff doesn't appeal to me in this climate zone.

Mang182, Lagoon has some bamboo by the Samurai Ride and also some by Rattlesnake Rapids but I haven't been there lately so I don't know how it has held up. The International Peace Gardens at Jordan Park has Ph. rubromarginata, Ph. aurea, and Ps. japonica. The rubro grows probably over 15 feet tall, but they trim it back to about 8 feet each year and have it confined to about 16 square feet of growing soil. Not the optimum conditions by a long shot. My tallest bamboo is about 10' after 3 years. The tallest species I have are Phyllostachys: glauca, rubro, nuda, decora, and aureosulcata. You are welcome to stop by and see what I have. Drop me an email and we can arrange a time. Eric

Ed: just realized that I misunderstood floral_uk's post from a few days ago: "I'm interested to see the Icelandic name for gorse. Similar to Whin which is a vernacular name in the British Isles." I took that as "I would be interested to see..." rather than "I find it interesting that...". You're spot on - while "hv" is pronounced "kv", it's analogous to the English "wh" - for example "hval" (whale), "hvað" (what), "hvar" (where), "hveiti" (wheat), "hvítt" (white), "hvolpur" (whelp), etc. So "hvinviður" would be anologous to "whin-wood". I don't know if the Icelandic is taken straight from the English "whin" or whether it has an Icelandic etymology (such as "hvinur" (whisling sound), "hvinn" (uncommon word for thief), etc; I'd guess the former.