2010/2011 News and Pictures

12/31/11 Tomorrow is Jan 1st and so far this winter has been the warmest I ever remember. We had a beautiful day today, nearly 60degrees, and a visit from Mark and his wife from nearby Marshall, NC. They loaded up 12 large #5 plants. Super nice people and always great to meet fellow bamboo lovers.

 

12/19/11 Almost Christmas and the kids are excited. The time change is painful for me since I work almost till dark there is no time to dig bamboo in the evenings. So far this winter has been very mild compared to last year. Our low this winter has been about 20degrees. I often get questions about how bamboo grows so I wrote an article about the topic and included it here on the site. Just click the link above

10/8/11 Today Steve came down from Virginia. It was a long trip probably a bit over 4 hours. He brought a horse trailer and we filled it up with some very well rooted #5 Yellow Groove. He wants a long privacy screen and these should give him a very quick start. I like it when people visit as I get to show them around and they can get an idea of what their bamboo will look like when mature.

 

10/2/11 Today Gary and Jonathan visited from Tennessee. They came over the Cherohala skyway which is a beautiful drive this time of year. Gary is a fellow bamboo lover and has a quite a collection already. Today he added Nigra Henon, P Mannii Decora, Sasa Palmatta, and a dwarf groundcover to the list. It was great to meet them, and I am sure we will have more dealings in the future

 

9/22/11 Fall is quickly falling in the mountains. Have been so busy at my other job that I havent had time to dig nearly as much bamboo as I would like. I have dug a good supply of Henon, however, and will add it for sale to the site in a month or so (want to make sure it is stable and thriving before shipping). My wife is in Halloween decorating mode.

7/16/11 Visitors to the nursery!!! It isnt often that folks drive all the way out to Robbinsville to pick up plants. (I live wayyy out in the country) But today Bobby, his son and a friend drove over from Knoxville. Not very far as the crow flies but its a long and curvy road between here and there. They picked up some large field divisions of Nigra Henon and 3 pots of Yellow Groove Bobby is a fellow bamboo lover and it was nice to meet them all.

 

7/16/11 I now have now have the ability to take credit cards through the site... I dont have a shopping cart yet so unfortunately you have to purchase each type of bamboo separately. The cards are processed through Paypal. When you click "buy now" it will direct you to the paypal site where you will choose the option at the bottom of the page to "Do not have a paypal account"

 

7/4/11 Fourth of July!!! Having lots of fun with the family. Really dread going back to work tomorrow. Drove down to Fontana Village (Just a few miles from Robbinsville) to see the fireworks. Snapped a picture of the roadside view along the way. Not bamboo related but worth seeing if you ever schedule a visit to the nursery

6/15/11 It has been too hot and dry to dig any bamboo during the past month. We are now getting a lot of afternoon thunderstorms. Going on vacation next week to Myrtle Beach, SC. Going to try and get some bamboo dug when I get back.

 

5/5/11 We had a super late frost last night and it was pretty depressing. Everything is shooting and its likely that a lot of shoots will be killed. I was out walking around this evening surveying the damage and snapped some pictures. One of my twins has his shovel and ready to dig some bamboo...Im afraid he will need a bigger shovel but I didnt tell him that

The other twin standing next to some new shoots of Greenstripe Vivax. The color on these never ceases to amaze me.

 

4/26/11 Filled lots of orders the past couple weeks below is an order of 15 large #5 plants that are shrink-wrapped and ready to go in boxes. Shoots continue to come in bunches and I think everything is now shooting. Hopefully the danger of frost has passed at this point.

4/4/2011 Spring is here and I walked around the groves to check out all the new shoots. The Moso has been shooting for a while now and likely got nailed by a late frost. Some of the Yellow Groove and Dwarf David Bissett is shooting. The Sasa Palmatta has been shooting for a while but it is strangely resistent to frost. The spectabilis is shooting but not the vivax, red margin, humilis, henon or black. We will probably get one more frost so I hope they hold out a little longer. Below is a picture of some yellow groove these shoots are a couple feet high. It has only taken a week or so for them to get this big.

3/6/2011 Today Jim and Nick drove 6 hours from Chapel Hill, NC to pick up some large field divisions of Nigra Henon. In the past I have always shipped Bamboo abroad. This was the first time that customers had actually visited. It was really good to meet them.

We somehow fit 4 Nigra Henon that were at least 15ft tall in his FJ Cruiser. They were sticking out quite far but I received an email later that evening that the bamboo had survived the trip quite well.

 

2/20/11 Spring is right around the corner, but winter is having a hard time letting go this year. Snapped a couple pictures of two beautiful birds outside my window. I know its not bamboo related but the pictures turned out great

12/25/10 White Christmas!!! We had almost 10 inches and it's still snowing

12/22/10 Almost Christmas. I need to get out and dig some bamboo to be ready for spring but we have had some temperatures in the low single digits. 3 degrees a couple weeks ago!!! Maybe when the ground thaws Ill get a chance

 

12/5/10 Snow today!!! Shipped out some bamboo this afternoon and almost froze my fingers off. I did complete the greenhouse before it became quite so cold, and have moved most of my potted plants in.

 

10/31/2010

Halloween! I actually got to dig some bamboo this afternoon.. not much just a few Greenstripe Vivax. My daughter dressed up for Halloween as a Geisha girl. Here she is standing in front of a small grove of Nigra Henon. Some folks saw it on my wife's facebook and actually asked what picture studio had that background..they couldnt believe it was real.

 

9/8/2010

My summer project this year has been to build a greenhouse. I purchased a metal pipe bender off Ebay and a bundle of chain link fence top rails. Ive been working hard to get it finished before winter but with my work schedule this summer it has been slow going. The greenhouse is 48' by 20' and I currently have the base and the metal frame up. Next comes the end wall, door, ventilation fan, and the plastic film.

Here is a very dense grove of Dwarf David Bissett. The canes here are about 10 feet tall and form a super year round privacy barrier (bamboo is an evergreen plant). There is a road just behind this grove but you would never know it. I included this picture to demonstrate how well you can incorporate bamboo into your landscaping.

Here are my 2 girls in a grove of Nigra Henon. They love bamboo, but not as much as they love the donuts they are eating

Here is some black (P. Nigra) in the snow a few years ago. The white snow and shiny black canes created a nice artistic contrast.

A small holding area last fall. These have all since gone to happy customers