one pitiful bonsai will be at an Orchid Show, Columbus OH

If anyone ever thought about using orchids as kusamono, the Central Ohio Orchid Society is hosting an orchid show at the Franklin Park Conservatory, Columbus Ohio, Saturday and Sunday, November 8 & 9. Show will be open 10 am to 5 pm.

One exhibtor, Andrea Nissen of Orquideas del Valle, from Cali, Columbia will be bringing an array of miniature orchid species, most are native to Colombia. Her theme for her display will be orchids as kusamono. As her import papers only allow her to bring in orchids, she is borrowing either my not yet ready for a show JBP or my rough, not really ready for a show Satsuki. Andrea always brings an assortment of orchids you will never see at a big box store. She propagates all from seed, mostly from species she has collected herself in Colombia. This is a rare opportunity to get some really exotic, miniature orchids.

I will have my own display of orchids, and sales table, but for this show I will only have a few miniatures. But I will have a dwarf growing cultivar of tropical bamboo - Bambusa multiplex "Fern Leaf Stripe Stem" - which is a genetic dwarf with leaves less than one inch long. Ideal for kusamono or bonsai or tray plantings.

Check it out if you are in the area. Info at http://www.coosinfo.info
Thanks
Leo

Hi Leo.............This from an IN search from a bamboo nursery:

"We no longer grow this bamboo at all and do not recommend it any longer. It is so slow growing, a bit fussy about soil and pH, and one of the worst affected bamboos by the Noxious Bamboo Mealy Bugs."
So...perfect for us fussy bonsai folk, yes?

Yep, perfect!
You grow in Hawaii, the land of house plants run amok. People south of Memphis, Tennessee, panic at the thought of planting bamboo in the ground for fear it will eat their house, car and neighborhood. A slow growing bamboo would be a good thing, eh? My running bamboos are a problem because they keep trying to leave their pots and wander the neighborhood. Nice to have one that stays put. Since 'Fern Leaf Stripe Stem' is a tropical, it has to stay small enough to fit on my windowsill or in my light garden for the winter.

I need to check the web, I had not heard that complaint about it. I picked up my stock plant early this summer, it seemed to be growing well enough, got good roots on the divisions I made. We have had a cool summer, nothing grew much here this year. Bamboo in zone 5 is a much tamer creature than bamboo in zone 8.

I'm not selling this one over the internet, only at shows and meetings, so far only in the north. Probably because we freeze hard every winter I have not had any trouble with bamboo mealies or the equally dreaded bamboo mites. I do keep an eye out for these, as they are nasty.