HARDY BAMBOOS 205 



is natural for it so to do, is not beautiful : the 

 garden is more interesting without it. Many of the 

 species spread rapidly by underground stems, and 

 for this reason must never be planted without careful 

 thought. Each plant should tell its own tale, and 

 not suffer partial extinction through a choke-muddle 

 arrangement that makes a bank of leafage perhaps, 

 but in which all individual beauty is hopelessly lost. 

 Some Bamboos, like Phyllostachys viridi-glaucescens and 

 P. Henom's, need ample space for full development. 

 Transplant always in late spring, never in winter and 

 early spring. 



With the utmost care Bamboos in the fickle British 

 climate get sadly browned in February and May, 

 the outcome of either a hard winter or keen east 

 winds in spring. The stems are seldom injured, and 

 Mr. Bean says " the underground portion of the 

 plants never is." This scorched look is not beautiful, 

 and is more apparent as the spring meets summer, 

 when the whole plant world is bursting into new life 

 and tinting the landscape with green. Therefore, 

 Bamboos can never be planted so lavishly as Rhodo- 

 dendrons ; and we do not desire a Bamboo plague, 

 beautiful though the plants are in foliage and growth, 

 so perhaps the east wind is somewhat of a blessing. 

 Bamboos must have favoured spots. When a single 

 group is desired, then choose some sheltered corner, 

 and the same consideration is necessary when making 

 a Bamboo garden or grove. A beautiful and refresh- 

 ing feature of many English homes is a ravine of 

 these lovely grasses, and the Bamboo colony at Kew 



