And now we have bamboo

We've been wanting bamboo in our garden for some time now.  After a year of learning about what type of bamboo is suitable for Michigan weather, how to limit spread, care and maintenance, etc, we contacted a local bamboo landscaping service to talk about what can be done (www.mibamboo.com).

The quote for buying and planting the bamboo was quite reasonable, but it would be expensive to take out the old bushes. (See previous post on moving plants).

As usual, Jia Nin documented the process and results on her flickr site:

Bamboo day 1: The plants themselves
Digging trench for rhizome barrier
The tools - trenching spade and pickaxe - reaching two feet down
Bamboo day 2: Trench done after total of 7 hours of digging
Rotor-tilling in compost
Green groove bamboo planted
Detail of green groove bamboo culm
Bamboo day 3: Replacing spirea with dwarf yellow-stripe bamboo
Two out of three spireas replaced
Dwarf yellow-stripe bamboo planted
Variegation of dwarf yellow-stripe bamboo
And the old plants are now...

Whew!