The long and the short of it
By Satish Narula

THERE are plants that are suitable for a specific location. Some are useful for landscape gardening but are used for specific purposes like shade, screen, colour of foliage or flowering. The bamboo can be effectively used as a miniature bonsai or a hedge or a 60 feet tall plant. Even cut bamboo finds use in a garden.

The ornamental potential of bamboo is never fully exploited in landscape gardening. Those who have planted it swear by it and say it is a wonderful plant that is least demanding, fast growing and majestic.

They are available in all heights — tall, medium and small and in many hues — green, deep green, yellow, green with yellow, straw white foliage and green with white streaks, golden colour in the leaves and stem.

The bamboo can be used in various ways. The dwarf ones can be used as barriers on boundaries or on small mounds in a big garden. The ornamental ones can also be used along streams or at the edges of ponds. Some dwarf species are also used as ground cover and are suitable for growing in pots as well. The tall ones can be accommodated in the corner of a lawn, a little away from the house.

Bamboo is an essential part of a Japanese garden. The grace with which it stands provides serenity to the surrounding. Cut bamboo split in half can be used as a channel for water in Japanese gardens. Split halves of bamboo secured by clamps can be used to mark a path when laid on either side of it.

Those who believe that the bamboo once planted becomes a nuisance could go in for species like Bambusa ventricosa popularly called Buddha’s Belly bamboo. This species derives its name from the shape of the constrictions it forms at the restricted (small) internodes. This is a clumpy type of bamboo that does not grow fast in the ground, unlike the running type that grow underground rhizomes in all directions to give out new shoots.

Bamboo can be used to form a clump under which logs can be placed for sitting. The shade of the bamboo leaves can also be used to grow plant which flourish in shade. This type of arrangement can also be used to enliven the most neglected corners. Use of yellow bamboo in such cases could further add to the beauty and grace.

Propagating bamboo is very easy. Though it can be multiplied from shoots lifted from the ground, the easiest method is to raise it from a single node kalam cutting. A method of propagation has been standardised at the Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology at Palampur. In this, a one or two year old bamboo with sprouting side branches is cut two knots above the ground and cuttings are prepared containing a single node with side branches. Even side branch can be cut into segments. The segments can be buried three to four inches below the soil. Protect the cutting against white ants. The cuttings have to be watered frequently in early stages. The sprouts emerge in a few days and then they take roots. These can be transplanted in about a year or so.