I’ve been growing bamboo since 1978 and have made many mistakes. Some species of bamboo doesn’t do well in Ohio, where I’m based, because they won’t tolerate the cold weather in winter. In some cases I’ve left the plants growing in my yard if only to show others what won’t do well in my climate. To control bamboo’s growth… More
Bamboo. It is great stuff. It is beautiful to look at, sounds neat in the wind, and makes a lovely privacy screen from your neighbors. You know the saying good fences make good neighbors (or good privacy screens make good neighbors). But if bamboo isn’t contained, those same neighbors you are trying to get some private time… More
The Christian Science Center, on Huntington Ave between Mass Ave and Belvidere Street in Boston, is the oldest suspended pavement installation that we know of in the United States. These trees were planted in 1968, making them 43 years old.
In my last entry I talked about the three different types of bamboo. Many people may not know this, but the United States is home to a native species of temperate (running) bamboo called arundinarea gigantean (river cane). Because most of the U.S. has a cold winter, our native bamboo (running) grew from the gulf… More
A few weeks ago I was in a meeting with the chief of staff for a San Francisco supervisor. She mentioned that there are entire areas of the city — those that are predominantly Chinese and Chinese-American — where city tree planting is very limited due to cultural beliefs in feng shui. I’d heard the… More
I run a business called Burton’s Bamboo Garden, so as you can imagine, I know a lot about bamboo, and I get a lot of questions about it from customers. Today, I want to talk about the basics of this amazing plant.
Occasionally we work on Silva Cell projects where the installation of the product and the soil it contains happen far in advance of any trees being planted. In these instances, we often get asked by concerned designers whether the soil biology can be maintained under sidewalks in the temporary absence of trees — and if… More
According to a recent article from Mark Kivner with the BBC, the first scientific study to examine what is commonly known as the nursery effect — that is, identical trees developing differently based on their growing conditions — has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Let the “trees don’t forget… More
In Part 1 I talked about the history of Bio Char. In Part 2, I discussed some of the controversy surrounding this soil amendment. Here in Part 3, I’ll look at how you obtain bio char and explore ideas for its future applications in cities. Bio char is made much differently than the charcoal we use… More
In my experience, conversations about utilities usually put everyone a little bit on edge. And once we start talking to folks about sticking a product like the Silva Cell underneath the sidewalks where their utilities run, some people would love to stop the conversation altogether. But using the Silva Cell in areas with utilities isn’t… More
In Part 1 I talked about the history of Bio Char. In Part 2, I’ll discuss some of the controversy surrounding this soil amendment. I’ve only known about bio char for the last several years. My first experience with seeing modern manufactured bio char applied was by Dr. Kelby Fite at Bartlett Tree Laboratory over… More
The Silva Cell system was developed with the goal of improving the urban environment by providing a means for trees to have access to the soil volumes they need to thrive, and by which stormwater can be absorbed back into the ground. At issue with integrating green infrastructure and products such as Silva Cells into… More
Soil. Stormwater. Sustainable Infrastructure.
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