Fargesia rufa

We have finally filled the hole where the oleaster used to be, with its removal noticed, amongst other places, at reference 1.

Having white-boarded the matter in the extension and further discussed the matter on-site, we decided, rather to my surprise, that a bamboo might be the thing, with my theory being that it was not going to spread all over the place in our clay soil, usually rock hard in the summer.

So off to Chessington Garden Centre where a helpful attendant was able to show us around the bamboos on offer there. After some palaver we settled for a smaller variety, Fargesia rufa, dragon head bamboo, but one which will still grow to 3m and more. It also had the advantage that it would fit in our car, good for instant gratification - although this was not essential as delivery was available just two or three days later for the modest sum of a fiver. See reference 2 for bamboo in general, reference 3 for this one in particular.

Then yesterday was planting day, an opportunity to crack out the mattock, the top of the substantial handle of which can be seen bottom right. Cleared the ground, taking out the bay seedlings which were scattered about. Cut out a bit more of the oleaster stump. Left a couple of firethorn seedlings or suckers, products of the larger plant mostly off-snap to the right.

Dug a hole, maybe twice the dimensions of the pot containing the bamboo. Ground quite soft after the frost and the rain, quite a lot of surface roots to be cut out. Very few, if any, worms - or anything else of that sort. Partially backfilled the hole with a mixture of (garden centre) compost and crumbled brown clay and then popped the bamboo in its new home, slipping out of its pot without complaint. Fairly pot bound, notwithstanding. Modest compaction of the surrounding earth using a broom stick handle, but I did not think that watering was necessary.

We shall see how it gets on - not least in further cold snap scheduled for February. According to the RHS at reference 3, this bamboo is good for temperatures down to between -10°C and -15°C, so it ought to be OK. We might even (bubble) wrap it up if it gets really cold - although I prefer not to coddle plants, preferring them to manage under their own steam. That said, to be fair, BH does move some of her pots into the garage when cold is forecast.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/05/oleaster-down.html.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo.

Reference 3: https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/137830/fargesia-rufa/details.