Bamboo in Italy

I was lucky enough to spend a couple weeks in Italy this summer. We spent a week in a villa in a small town an hour from Florence. Bamboo was on my mind before I left because my plants were shooting but I had no expectations of finding bamboo in Italy.




On the country roads heading to the villa, I noticed a few stands and a couple small groves of bamboo in farmer's yards. None of the bamboo was overly huge but it did get my hopes up. I guess the thing to remember is that despite my addiction to the plant, I have never actually seen any mature Phyllostachys plants anywhere. It's funny how you can get so wrapped up in a group of plants based on descriptions in books (Hardy Bamboos - Paul Whittaker), websites (www.needmorebamboo.com) and blogs (It's Not Work It's Gardening).


When I arrived at the villa, I noticed some bamboo canes used to support some veggies in the garden. They were freshly cut, green, had a sulcus and were 2+ inches in diameter. They also had fairly thin walls, so I assumed they were Phyllostachys vivax.

In the next couple of days I was able to explore the grounds around the villa. Each property was huge, often surrounded by tall stone walls and many contained large impressive trees. However, I was totally surprised and excited about the large groves of bamboo that were turning up.

The first bamboo I found was on the other side of a large stone wall. It was a green Phyllostachys, tall but not overly big in diameter.



It had a white ring below each node. Nuda perhaps?














I jumped up and tried to look over the wall to check for someone to let me in for a better look but there was nobody around. Check out my wife and brother in-law in the picture below to help with the scale of the wall and therefore the height of the bamboo.



I am unsure of identification of that grove but was able to identify the second grove I found. It was clearly Phyllostachys aurea. The look of the shoots and the compressed nodes gave it away. It was a very large grove on the side of the road in a ditch along a ravine but bamboo itself was not too tall.















My father in-law and I took off for a hike in the mountains and that's when we came upon this grove. I was so happy to be able to get up close and handle the bamboo. It was just growing on the side of a country road in the middle of nowhere. It must have been planted by a farmer for the cane production years ago and left unchecked, it had really taken off. It probably took up 2000 square feet or more easily. If this was the last grove I saw before going home, I would have been more than happy but... There was one more very special grove to be found.



Very near the villa, there was this large field opposite the stone wall previously mentioned. I had walked by the field 5 or 6 times before noticing the amazing grove of bamboo growing on the hillside.











I had to get a closer look, but there were many signs that clearly stated 'no trespassing' in English. I was torn. I went back to the villa to sleep on the idea of getting a closer look.

The next day, I decided it was well worth the risk. I sprinted through the field of tall grass (in flip flops...so dumb) to reach the bamboo.
Halfway there.



The boo on the perimeter.



Inside the grove. I couldn't believe how dark it was inside the grove. The density of the leaves overhead was incredible.



Check out the diameter. Pretty impressive. I was absolutely content.
What do you think? Vivax?



Well, I returned home with visions of groves in my zone 5 garden in PEI. Probably will never happen, but it is still a blast growing bamboo and I look forward to documenting my successes and failures with the plants on the East Coast of Canada.