Bamboos leafing out 2012

With the earlier spring and warm weather this year, bamboos are leafing out much sooner than they usually do, and they are starting to look impressive. The biggest ones are going onto their 4th season and some of them have culms exceeding 1 inch, reaching heights of up to 15ft.

Phyllostachys parvifolia: This one is putting out a lot of 1 inchers this year with the tallest ones getting up to 14ft while the average diameter of the entire grove is an amazing 7ft even though over 100 divisions have been taken from it.

Phyllostachys Dulcis: This one has the largest shoots with the biggest one at 1.3 inches at the base by just a bit over 15ft, reaching the height of the lowest powerline, and appears to have lots of upsizing potential.

Phyllostachys Atrovaginata: This was my tallest grove last year at 13ft, but this year the tallest culm is only about 13 1/2 ft so it is in 3rd place, but I think this is due to a combination of culling out the old culms and taking too many divisions.

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Phyllostachys propinqua beijing: This one was about 11ft last year at best, but it also seems to have been weakened since 1/2 the grove was taken off in divisions last year, and the tallest culm this year is only about 12 1/2 ft so there was hardly any upsize.

Phyllostachys decora: This is my 5th bamboo breaking the 10ft mark as it has 1 culm reaching a bit over 12ft which is not bad for being on its 3rd year. These 5 bamboos should have a chance of challenging the 20ft mark next year, expecially dulcis which seems to upsize the fastest with very few culms each year.

Phyllostachys aureosulcata spectabilis: The tallest culms on this one are 9 1/2ft already doubling the height of last year's which is very impressive for its 2nd year from rhizome.

Phyllostachys Nigra: This one was only planted in the ground last year, but it went form 4-5ft culms up to 7-8ft culms this year so it is upsizing pretty slow, but still looks impressive this year.

Phyllostachys kwangsiensis: This one is tiny compared to the rest with culms no higher than 3ft, but it is getting very bushy as an 18 month old seedling so it should produce rhizomes and upsize a lot next spring.

This show just how congested the culms are in the clump.

Heres the phyllostachys vivax aureocaulus in the front with beijing & dulcis divisions behind it.