Kuril Bamboo - Kuril Saza Or Bamboo (Sasa Kurilensis) - Use In Landscape Design

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Kuril bamboo - oriental motives in landscape design

In the translated literature on landscape design, recommendations are often given for the use in certain compositions of such plants, which have no analogues in our climatic zone, or almost none, in any case, widely introduced. This situation has developed, for example, with a banana. The situation is almost the same with bamboo. It is especially necessary when creating compositions in the oriental style.

Previously, one could only find screens made from dead bamboo trunks, which, of course, could not completely replace living plants. However, now a solution has been found. Although there are more than 600 species of bamboos in the world, almost all of them grow only in the tropics and subtropics, and can not stand freezing temperatures at all. But still there are several types of winter-hardy bamboo, and it grows in our country - on Sakhalin and the Kuriles. They are hardy enough to grow in the Midland and even in the Northwest. I must say that these bamboos have already been introduced into culture here literally in recent years, although their ecology and even morphology have not yet been fully studied.

These are the types of Kuril bamboo of the sasa genus(sasa). Their stems are outwardly the same as those of more southern species. Growth is fast, but short, as in all bamboos; later on, short lateral shoots with several leaves only grow on the trunk. The stems are perennial, woody, articulate-knotty, hollow inside. Their wood is very durable, hard and resilient. The root system is powerful. The leaves are long, pointed, dense, rough, green above, shiny, below - glaucous; hibernate green, fall in early summer. The flowers of this bamboo are bisexual, inconspicuous, collected in a loose paniculate inflorescence, pollinated by the wind. Flowering does not happen every year. The fruit is a weevil. These types of Kuril bamboo are light-requiring, but withstand light shading. They cannot stand excessive moisture, especially stagnant moisture. In nature, they grow in the form of clean thickets,or as undergrowth in sparse stands. Can be used to anchor slopes.

The main interest for landscape design, as decorative species, is represented by five closely related species of bamboo, moreover, they are quite similar to each other so that often only a specialist can distinguish them. This is an ordinary Kuril bamboo (Sasa kurilensis Makino et Shibata) - with branched stems up to 2.5 m high and a stem diameter of about 1 cm. Leaves up to 12 cm long and 2.5 wide, dark green above, bluish below.

Kuril bamboo paniculata (Sasa paniculata Makino et Shibata) - stems up to 2.5 m tall, stem diameter - 0.5 cm. Leaves up to 30 cm long and about 6 cm wide, ovate-lanceolate, narrowed towards the end; shiny above, pubescent below. This type, in addition to landscape design, may be of interest for fixing slopes, at home it is used for weaving baskets, it is very winter-hardy.

Kuril spikelet bamboo (Sasa spiculesa Makino) - up to two, and sometimes even up to five meters high and 0.5 cm in diameter. Branching is not dense, the leaves are linear-lanceolate, up to 12 cm long and 2 cm wide with a ciliate edge.

Tesian Kuril bamboo (Sasa tesioensis Tatew.) - up to 2 m tall, branching is not dense; leaves are large, up to 20 cm long and 5 cm wide, with a long cusp.

Kuril pseudo-nippon bamboo (Sasa pseudonipponica Tatew et Nakai) slightly lower, stems up to 1.5 m tall; leaves - up to 25 cm long and up to 6 cm wide, pointed, short-haired along the edge. Since all of them, as already noted, are quite similar in appearance, in this regard they are almost equivalent. The question is very important: which of these species is the most winter-hardy, but the answer to it is still unclear. More research and testing is required. But nevertheless, in recent years, these species have really begun to be introduced into culture, their planting can already be found in landscape compositions created in gardens located in the middle zone of our country, and even in the Northwest.

In addition, in the same place on Sakhalin there are three more types of bamboo, which can only find limited use in landscape design: on alpine slides and as a stylization for bonsai. These are undersized species: hairy Kuril bamboo (Sasa pilosa Nakai), depleted Kuril bamboo (Sasa depauperata Nakai) and Sugawara Kuril bamboo (Sasa Sugawarae Nakai), with stems only 20-80 cm high. They are too low to imitate the southern thickets of real, but quite suitable for stylized bonsai and bon-kei, as well as for other low-growing compositions.

Although the Central band has not yet been tested, but it is also of great interest representative of a different kind - sinarundinariya brilliant (Sinarundinaria nitida Nakai), which grows in the mountains of northern China. This type of bamboo is very decorative, it has thin straight dark purple trunks, from a distance they seem almost black, up to 6 m in height, in the first year they are not branched; begins to branch from the second year. Narrow lanceolate leaves up to 12 cm long. Loves moist soil and some shading. Autumn vegetation. Very winter-hardy, withstands frosts down to -30 ° C. True, in Russia this species has not yet been grown, it is only in Ukraine, near Kharkov, where it grows quite successfully; therefore, the prospect of its introduction into the Non-Black Earth Region is quite encouraging.

As ornamental plants, bamboos differ sharply from other types of woody and shrub species with their yellow (sometimes red or black) almost cylindrical knotty trunks and openwork crowns of long, drooping leaves. They look especially decorative in small curtains, screens, trellises. They can be used to cover a fence, a shed, other utility rooms, and can be used to create decorative green fences. In winter, a unique, amazing and life-affirming sight looks like knotty bamboo stems with green leaves rebelliously crawling out from under the snow. This makes an amazing impression on the audience. Bamboo thickets look good at any other time of the year, creating an original oriental flavor.