Wind!
Today has been a particularly windy day. I love watching the leaves chasing each other across the street but my eyes don’t appreciate all the grit suspended in the air—the bane of all contact-lens wearers.
I decided to take a video of the three clumping bamboos in front of our house: Bambusa multiplex ‘Alphonse Karr,’ Bambusa chungii ‘Barbellata,’ and Bambusa oldhamii. If you click through to YouTube, you can select a higher resolution.
Isn’t it beautiful how the culms move in the wind? The tallest culms haven’t even fully leafed out yet, otherwise they would sway even harder.
I get nervous when fresh culms get too windblown. Maybe the clumpers are stronger, but I've had new culms snap in the spring storms. I can relax and enjoy them at this time of year though (it's been windy here too).
ReplyDeleteAlan, the oldhamii culms I cut down on the weekend looked very strong. I think chungii is relatively thin-walled, but no damage so far. My biggest fear with high winds is dehydration of the leaves. Luckily it's only 70°F right now.
ReplyDeleteThat's one of the selling points of bamboos, how they sway so well in the wind (and how it rustles too). I'm not always a fan of windy days though, I prefer gentle breezes :)
ReplyDeleteIt does look pretty swaying in the wind like that. Culms is a weird name to say. LOL
ReplyDeleteCandy, it's referred to as a "shoot" where it first pokes its head out of the ground, then it's called a "culm," and after you cut it, it's called a "cane." Go figure!
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