Bill- This far north I just use heat cables to keep my Sabal and Rhapidophyllum alive (and the ground in their enclosure from freezing.)... I have some W. filifera seedlings that I'll be planting out not this spring but next!

Oh, and Canadapalms, did you get a chance to check out my crunchy bamboo post... It shows what happens at -22C when the culms are left without snow cover!

Today i unburied it. I took all the leaves off of it ( it ended up being ar 5C today, but more like 12 C where the bamboo is.) and let it soak up some sun. I lefet a 2 inch layer of leaves around. I put some old cloths around, just to soak up some of the water around. I also took all he snow from around it as best as I could.. I filled up 2 garbage bags of leaves, and am going to ut them aroudn the bamboo at night, and drape the plastic on it. Heres what it looked like a few minutes after un burying it.

BEAUTIFUL! If only we could all get that sort of result from our own winter protection schemes!

The more I see of this, the more I believe that overwintering bamboo in anything less than a true USDA zone 6 requires good mulch and relaible snow cover... Except, of course, in places where the freezes are short lived, like in Tennessee or Colorado!

Paul,
his bamboo looks MUCH better than mine does, down here at 36oN.
Well done!
--Erik

Erik
Leave your chickens in there next winter to keep it warm 😯 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆

The bamboo had plenty of chicken love this winter. It wasn't covered (like the large Butia, AKA the dog house) or partially sheltered from winds like the Trachy (the chickens spent each morning there in the dawn sun).
No, I put compost as warm mulch over the poor bamboo roots. The chickens scratched through that looking for food and so scattering the protection. I eventually put enough horse manure on that even they couldn't scatter it all.
I saw a hen eating flower buds off my winter jasmine today; they keeping pecking at Colocasia roots, too. Its a love-hate relation. The wife and I are always scheming to fence the chickens out of the garden. So far they have always foiled our plans.

I can't wait to watch the doghouse Butia explode with growth this year.

Be grateful you have chickens. Therefore you don't have nematoes/cutworms, tussock moth, mealyworms, codling moths, yucky icky spiders crawling into your boots, etc. etc.

oops, almost forgot.
I planted the peas and spinach in the garden today!

Paul, I think the trick was that I totaly buried it before the ground froze. The temps were about -10C at night here, a night ot 2 at around -15C, and the dyas were around 0C to about 6C, then the night temps dropped in aa day to about -20C, after i buried it. IT was never exposed to heavy heavy frosts. Also, the night when the temps dropped, we got about20cm of snow.

It was good timing i think. I tried to wait until the new leaves stopped growing. Needless to say, i had to wait til lit slowed down conciderably. Astonishigly enough, it opend a few leaves while it was buried ( I can tell cause they are very small and not nearly as green as the others) which totaly blew me away, because it got ZERO sun for 3 months almost.

LOL terdal "chicken loce". Spiders are awsome to have if they are controled. They keep down the bugs. If you have some big trees, you might attract soem bats 😀 which are even better.........

Lucky, i would really like to see that as well. A butia in OK :O lol. I know someone in MC who im tryiong to convice him to try em. With some afternoon shade, I think itll surive there. I wish I could start some things outside LOL my first frost date is technicaly june 1ST, so even for lettuce id have some time ti wait still 🙁

BUT my grandma said i can have free reign over her garden, and take what ever I want * VERY EVIL LAUGH. Gonna take some wisteria, mabey some other tings..... she has a nice chunk of clematis she said she has to dig up.... i have a perfect place for it

Paul, I think the trick was that I totaly buried it before the ground froze. The temps were about -10C at night here, a night ot 2 at around -15C, and the dyas were around 0C to about 6C, then the night temps dropped in aa day to about -20C, after i buried it. IT was never exposed to heavy heavy frosts. Also, the night when the temps dropped, we got about20cm of snow.

It was good timing i think. I tried to wait until the new leaves stopped growing. Needless to say, i had to wait til lit slowed down conciderably. Astonishigly enough, it opend a few leaves while it was buried ( I can tell cause they are very small and not nearly as green as the others) which totaly blew me away, because it got ZERO sun for 3 months almost.

BUT my grandma said i can have free reign over her garden, and take what ever I want * VERY EVIL LAUGH. Gonna take some wisteria, mabey some other tings..... she has a nice chunk of clematis she said she has to dig up.... i have a perfect place for it

Again, that bamboo looks awesome. Erik- I would imagine that if you planted Fargesia rufa, it would look as good in spring... Unless, that is, it's as heat intolerant as other Fargesia!

Candianplant (sorry for the name mix-up last time), have you looked into any of the mail order places that I suggested? I am willing to supply you with cactus and other cuttings (provided you know how to root them!) but you really should look into places like nettlecreek, Hortico, etc. to find the plants that will form the backbone of the garden... Oh, and don't rule out Hosta, things like 'Sum and Substance' with huge leaves are very improtant to add that 'exotic' look!

What will you do with all the extra room?

I took a quick look at the sites.... im a bit picky 😛 but now that i know my bamboo is like, practicly perfect, now I have a good benchmark of the microclimate in the front, and gives me a GOOD idea about some in the back. So, im definetly ordering a bamboo, and a musa basjoo this year, 100%. Beyond that... i have no Idea yet lol. I have no idea how to root cactus lol.

LOL more room, i have very little room to use. My back yard is like 100 feet long (the grass area), and only mabey 20 feet wide. The best thing is... the entire length on my house is south facing. So thats a really good microclimate. I still have to plant my passiflora. LOL

Thanks for humoring my interjections into this otherwise fascinating thread. Here are brief replies to comments I made...
Chickens: they do a super job of insect, tick and chigger control. I have not put up bat houses, but we have a nice Summer bat population anyways for the flying insects.
Dog house Butia hut: I investigated how the heck the wireless thermometer recorded 91oF in there yesterday. Turned out the thermometer had been dislodged and the dogs were sleeping on it. 😆
Bamboo choices: despite that, we do have very high heat here all Summer. I am planning on buying from the folks at "Amazing Gardens" ~100 miles away from here. I'll drive down the turnpike with my truck and some cash in a month or so. I'll rely on their judgments for palms and bamboos.
Planting: Barb, you're way ahead of my wife this year. Our soil is only up to 40oF so we'll wait a few weeks. I did put some students to work starting seeds indoors. The only seeds I've started this week are also indoors--Sabal "Birmingham."
Anyways, enough of me. Back to canadianplant's awesome garden plans!

Turned out the thermometer had been dislodged and the dogs were sleeping on it.

😆 😆 😆

LOL, nice malfunction haha

well, I think I am going to try and grow some Phyllostachys Nuda. I just cant find out too much into on it. How bad it clumps, how much ater it can take, how much sun and or heat? How bad will it rip up myhouse foundation??

I'll have to try and take a few pictures of the bamboo clumps around here next nice day. I know of 3 enormous patches that
look totally beautiful every year green as can be in the winter to. On one of the patches the large on there about 25 feet high
and have green and yellow striped trunks. I'll get pictures for a better Id. The others are different but still huge. It's definitely
trying to take over which is kinda scary unless you can contain it. I'm going to trade some nanas for bamboo this year I think.

Paul how hard is it to dig up established bamboo?

Bill

Im thinking of trying psylostachys nuda. Pretty sure itll do alright here 😀 Also, im trying to find a source fer musa basjoo. I cant find anywhre that id trust to order them from. The most reliable place was on amazon.com... lol