Ok, I'll reveal a few of my secrets to growing a lawn down south. First a bit about my climate. The high temp last year was 111. The critical months are June, July, and August with usually about 60-70 days of temps 95 and above. A year of 30 days with over 100 is not that uncommon. Rainfall for the 3 months can be 5 inches in a dry year, 8 inches normal, and 11 inches in a wet year. I need 12 to 15 inches to be successful with my lawn. My neighbors struggle to keep their lawns looking good. Those with sprinkler systems often water 3 times a week. They are growing on top soil, some of it 8" deep, that has become compacted. Often the grade slope is 4% or greater. Some try to aerate but the benefit is short lived. Most of our summer rains come in a cloudburst where a 1 inch rain falls in as little as 15 minutes. With those conditions of soil and grade, the land sheds water like a raincoat and three quarters are lost to run off. If we get a normal 8 inches for the summer, they may only benefit by having as little as 2 inches absorbed by the soil. They need 10 inches additional to get to the 12 inches needed. But they will have to water a lot more than that 10 inches. It gets a bit complicated. Temperature was given as a obstacle and soil temperature is much more important than air temperature. Summer soil temps have a gradient from hot at the surface to cooler with depth. Different soil types have different gradients. A damp top soil will have a greater depth to it's gradient than something like sand. You can almost burn your feet on a beach but an inch below the surface the temperature is much cooler. Topsoil may not get as hot at the surface but the drop in temp at 2 inches deep can be as little as 5 degrees. High temperatures in the top 2 inches can be adverse to grass roots. Those watering 3 times a week have most of that water in the top three inches of soil and it's subject to a high evaporation rate due to the soil temp. Soil evaporation added to the evaporation during and after the watering can be as much as 50% for those on a frequent watering schedule. Remember they needed 10 inches additional for the grass but they may have to water 20 inches to get it. One might avoid some of the water loss by watering more, less frequently. But on compacted topsoil that doesn't work well either. The reason lies with oxygen levels. Just as there is a temperature gradient in soil, there is also an oxygen gradient to summer soils, saturated at the surface and diminishing to an oxygen deficiency at some depth. The gradient varies with soil structure and type. As oxygen diffuses through the surface and deeper into the soil, it is being used by the grass roots and all other aerobic life in the soil, which is revved up to a peak with the higher summer temperatures. In topsoil the oxygen deficiency can rise in the summer soil to a depth of 5 to 6 inches. Saturated soil becomes oxygen deficient very quickly, so heavy infrequent watering only exasperates the problem. For my neighbor's topsoil lawn, the top 2 inches are too hot, and below 5 or 6 inches the soil is oxygen deficient. They're trying to grow a lawn with an active root zone of 3 to 4 inches in depth. No wonder it's a struggle and requires large amounts of water. My yard is a lot different. Landscaping has reduced the grades to slopes from 1.5% to 2% max. With a good stand of grass, water moves across the lawn exceedingly slow. A 1.5 inch cloudburst can result in temporary water depths of an inch on the lawn but still there is little movement. The water is held over the soil until it is absorbed, with zero runoff. The soil has been amended for permeability and a high oxygen diffusion rate. The original soil was near a potter's grade clay with an inch or so topsoil. The top soil was mostly discarded. I purchased 60 cu yd of course sand. A layer of 3" of sand was mixed with the top 4" of clay yielding a depth of 7 inches. The mix is not uniform. Most of the clay is in lumps of half inch and smaller leaving the sand portion of the mix as near pure sand. An additional 1 inch of sand was raked into the surface. Sand will not compact and this mix will never compact. The high permeability of the mix absorbs the first 1.5 inches of a storm without runoff and moves it to a depth in the soil where it is not subject to a high surface evaporation rate. Clay absorbs water very slowly but in the first 24 hours after a rain the clay takes up a portion of the water pulling air through the voids in the sand part of the mix protecting against an oxygen deficiency. Over the winter and wet spring the underlying clay becomes very wet, storing a lot of water. Most all that underlying clay is oxygen deficient except for a thin top in contact with the sand/clay mix. Grass roots are able to penetrate the clay surface and to some extent tap the stored water equal to about a quarter inch per week. So for the summer I need 12 to 15 inches of water. On a normal year I get 8 inches in summer rain. I get the equivalent of 3 inches from the underlying clay and add 3 inches by watering in two 1.5 inch applications. The high sand content at the surface reduces the temperature gradient and I have an active root zone of about 7 inches, almost twice what my topsoil neighbors have. The same permeability benefits can be developed starting with topsoil, but in addition to sand, a significant quantity of vermiculite is usually needed. It sounds expensive, but compared to the cost of installation of a sprinkler system and maintenance, along with the never ending cost of large quantities of water, it's the cheaper way to go. You could get to love your lawn.

Most likely you have found a rather large stand of Bambusa Oldhammi. It is probably the most popular bamboo in Florida besides Multiplex varieties, and is definitely one of the largest. As for digging it, you will probably be best having a sawzall, prybar, and plenty of friends to help you out as the root ball you will get will be plenty large, even for a one culm division.

Evelyn, you can find admission details on the San Diego Zoo web site: http://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/tickets. Admission is pricey if you're going just for the bus tour, so I recommend making a day of it or getting the annual pass. The Zoo staff and web site are strangely reticent with information about plant day. Neither the Orchid House nor the tour bus pickup spot are marked on the map or web site, and some of the volunteers are unsure of the location of either. Attached is an image showing the (current) location of both. I hope this makes it easier for first-time visitors. The left yellow arrow points to the Bus Unloading area, which is where the Botanical Bus Tour loads. The right yellow arrow points to the Orchid House, behind the meerkat habitat.

The "overpriced" FONA plant sale at the National Arboretum is a fundraising event for the arboretum (which is woefully underfunded), so you shouldn't got there expecting bargains. As far as variety goes, if you are a FONA member you get to go a day early on the preview day, when it is much less crowded and the selection is much better. I imagine a lot of the really interesting and unusual plants get snapped up right away. That said, I've always managed to find a few interesting plants, even on Saturday.