I have used old nylons and they work fine, but I don't really want to talk about it here! LOL Bluesunflower,Please post pictures of that planting session! Landscaping fabric is also good. You place the plant on a piece of fabric, fold it over and roll it up like a burrito, with a baggy tie loosely tied around the top to secure it. [Credit for idea goes to author Helen Nash] "Horton"

One of them, the decora which had the little shrubby growth at the bottom recovered and made new small shoots in the late summer, and this spring they made shoots nearly as big as the originals making a full recovery. the other one, makinoi which had only 2 large culms with very little foliage eventually lost their leaves and didn't make it so it was a goner. It seems like severely root bound plants can make a full recovery as long as they still have viable buds and the rhizomes haven't dried out completely, but there is a point where the shoot buds are no longer viable and the plant is pretty much dead as they become a living stick. Many commercial nurseries take over-sized divisions sticking them in pots with minimal soil which leads to root-bound plants very quick, and as these divisions dehydrate very easily, the lose viability very fast. Many times, nurseries are only worried about the bottom dollar so they don't care if the plants die because they already made their money and apparently aren't interested in repeat customers. If you are planning on getting bamboo plants, I would suggest first trying to find a local grove of bamboo you can dig from, and then perhaps looking on bamboowebforums to find a forum member you can make a road trip to to collect many bamboos at once. It is definitely worth the time. If you can't find anyone then I would suggest bamboogarden in Oregon because I know it is a legitimate bamboo nursery.

The most recently posted Long Island street view is from 2012! No proof they are still there after the 2 polar vortex winters. And the other recent winter that was very cold in New England but not as much down here. (2016 IIRC: well below 0F on Martha's Vineyard. Have no idea how LI fared) They often look out of place in typical residential settings but I think those twin Seattle trees suit the house and are well taken care of so I give them a pass! Good catch GG. I am actually wondering if the NW DC, Bethesda, and Baltimore trees survived this horrid summer...by far the most humid I can remember. We barely had any comfortable dewpoints throughout September, not until the last few days. USUALLY cold fronts start pushing in some crisp weather by the 2nd week of Sept. It was a constant steambath since May. And yes it is humid compared to the PNW, but constant dewpoints 70F or above are not normal at least up here. There's a reason you see at least a few old ironclad rhodies in the DC/Baltimore area, but none in the deep south. And other than the late June/early July drought/heatwave - just long enough to be a nuisance - incredible rainy spells, one after another. I'm lucky to have only lost a couple important rhodies to root rot. OTOH it was nice to not worry about watering the 6 or so new planted camellias in my garden. They are so thirsty in the first year!

I;ve done this with standard roller shades before. I saved the spring loaded roller from old, torn shades. I cut fabric to fit the window opening, adding an inch to the side dimensions and a couple inches to the length. I turned in a tiny side hem and sewed it closed, but you could do the same with fabric glue if you don't sew. I made a pocket hem in the bottom for the wooden rod to go through and sewed that. Then I soaked all the fabric in a mixture of water and liquid starch to give it stiffness, and let it air dry. Once it was dry, I ironed out any wrinkles in the fabric. I attached the fabric to the spring loaded roller with a glue gun, and then rolled it up and hung it. Viola! New shades! Sorry, I don't have any pix of these shades, but they were easy to do.