2005


MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM
 LEWIS BAMBOO

 

Lewis Bamboo will continue to expand to meet consumer needs and always value
any size bamboo order.

We worked this order in for Outdoor Expressions at the last minute.
We feel certain the customer will love their new bamboo.

  

   
These were more of the 100 pound 15 gallon size plants we currently have
in stock. They have been potted for over a year and have super rhizome systems.
Each one will put up 14 to 18 foot canes in just a few months.



Wrapped and ready for delivery. We do everything possible to work with
our customers and are only happy when they are happy.

 

These are going like they say 'hot pancakes'.
There are more, but order soon before they are all promised.



James was pleased with his bamboo and we gave him an extra division
of 'Giant Gray' to start his own grove. From this grove he will be able
to provide his own divisions of bamboo and supply his customers with
bamboo. It may not seem good for our business, but we love bamboo
and want everyone to grow this beautiful plant.

Our hearts and prayers are with the Waldron family. They and
our close knit bamboo family lost a wonderful person this past
weekend. Richard Waldron was a great bamboo friend of ours
and we were lucky enough to have known him for years.
Richard worked with bamboo for many years and always enjoyed
every aspect of this wonderful plant. He will be missed by all who
came to know his warm nature and generosity.

 

Above left he walks with us after a hard morning of volunteering to
clean up a bamboo grove. Left to right, Harry Able, Richard, Steve Ray,
Roger Lewis Jr., Rocky and Roger Sr..

Above right he discusses bamboo with Roger Sr. during a panel discussion.

Lewis Bamboo

Today we had the pleasure to meet Bonny and Bobby from New Orleans. With her
wish list (Our Price list) in hand, Bonny was really excited about selecting all the
species that she had marked. She got thirteen different species which made up a lot of
contrast between heights, color and diameters.

        

Roger Jr. was checking to make sure she had everything that she wanted.

       

All the pots were packed so that Bonny could put some trees that they were going to pick
up in South Carolina in the back of the truck also.

It really makes us happy when we see someone like Bonny get so excited about bamboo.
We hope that she really enjoys them. She said she wanted to let us send her one new
species each year because they have a 600 acre farm to let the bamboo grow.

Hope they have a safe journey to their other destination and back home to New Orleans.

We arrived safely back from three deliveries today. The entire trip covered 2160 miles
and took 6 days.  Our first stop was in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. Linda with
Shipes Landscaping has been to our bamboo farm previously and purchased bamboo.



Below Linda helps us with the unloading process. As always she was fun to
work with and a big help through out the order.

    

    

  December 2nd. continued.

Evelyn was nice enough to take time to show off her bamboo and
all the work they had been doing.

   

Below are pictures of the beautiful Phyllostachys aurea 'Koi' they ordered
and will soon be growing.

            

The last two photos show some of the bamboo fences with bamboo in
the background. While limited for space, they had designed the gardens
well and were extremely proud of their new bamboo.

   

  December 2nd. continued.

Our last stop on our delivery took us back to Texas once again. Our customer, Lynn
was very pleased with the large divisions of Phyllostachys nigra 'Henon' she received.
She had a laugh we both loved and will always remember. She lives in urban Houston
and you can see her problem below in the first photo. The neighbor behind her privacy
fence is in the process of building a two story home a few feet from her property line.
In the upper left corner you can see a construction worker beginning work on the second
story. The new home was going to be over looking her beautiful back yard. All the privacy
she once enjoyed was threatened, so Lynn turned to bamboo for the answer.



We have a large demand for bamboo privacy screening as it provides an
excellent answer to many problems. While wanting to get along with neighbors
of all kinds, gardeners often turn to attractive landscaping bamboo to solve
unforeseen problems.

  

Above photos of unloading and moving the 'Giant Gray' Henon into the backyard
where it will begin the process of establishing a beautiful new bamboo grove.

   
    

Above left shows the trailer nearly unloaded.  Above right shows Roger Sr.
cutting away a portion of the 15 gallon container to reveal several one inch
diameter rhizomes or roots.

  

Lynn was very happy with the new bamboo and looking forward to
getting it all in the ground as soon as possible. Soon the new home
will no longer pose an intrusion and hopefully happy neighbors.

November 29th.

Mike traveled up from Mobile, Alabama to purchase a truck load of the larger
field divisions from Roger Jr. while we traveled on a delivery.

 

Horsing around with a bamboo pole Mike thoroughly enjoyed his visit to
our bamboo farm. Hope Mike's trip home was a safe one and we look forward
to his next visit.



November 25th.

Preparations are on going for three upcoming deliveries. We will be leaving this weekend
so we are working during the holidays. Giant 'Gray Henon' going to Houston will be
the bulk of the load. Loving bamboo, we often work right through holiday seasons
to accommodate our loyal customers. These large 15 gallon containers of 'Giant Gray'
really fill up this 18 foot trailer. These are multiple canes in the 12 to 18 foot height
range.

        

   

Above right and below show the moisture barrier we install. These insure
the newly watered root balls hold moisture and do not loose any soil during
transport.
 

 
Above right shows the agriculture tags, which include individual inspection
numbers and plant identification. Below they are carefully laid down and
covered with a tarp to prevent any wind damage.

 

November 12th.

Shown above are our large 3 gallon sizes in this species. Most will
have 12 pound root balls and be 6 feet in height we shipped.

  

We currently try to have several hundred of this species in stock and
ready to ship at the beginning of each Spring.

Shown below are 108 divisions of P. rubromarginata just
before 18 inches of straw was mulched on the root balls.
They will be watered daily for 4 weeks before being potted
into 3 gallon containers. All these divisions were 6 to 8 feet
in height and will be shipped early next Spring.

Home again, Roger Sr. and Gayle had a great trip and met some wonderful new
friends. Bamboo people are always super and seem to have a great love of plants.
Below photos are taken in one of the most beautiful settings we have ever
delivered to. The direction took them over a mile from the nearest paved road
deep into the steep mountains. The house sat quietly beside a beautiful river
at the end of a lonely dirt road.


 

Their home is located in Dillsboro, North Carolina right on a breath
taking river that winds through the Appalachian Mountains. During
the Spring and Summer months you can rent canoes and run this scenic
river with its many rapids. Above and below, Gayle, sits on a giant rock
formation in their front yard. 



This was the second time Charles and his son, Barry, ordered
bamboo from Lewis Bamboo. It will be beautiful in two to three
years with all the moisture from this

river setting. A grove
we have known about for over 12 years in nearby Cherokee, N. C.
is reaching mature sizes now.  We have identified it as Phyllostachys nigra
Henon 'Giant Gray'.  The climate in this whole area is ideal for many species of
temperate bamboo.



Gayle had to be pulled away so they could head home to beautiful Wolf Creek.



Below are a couple photos with Phil Bashow of In Town Landscape.
Phil was a super nice fellow and runs a quality landscaping service
in Atlanta, Georgia. With the increase in orders for bamboo in
urban landscapes, Phil said he would be ordering again from us and
loved the bamboo he received this time.



Phil ordered some P. rubromarginata for a client and some for himself. He
plans on starting his own grove of rubro and the largest temperate bamboo
on earth Moso. Below Roger Sr. shows Phil some of the fantastic rhizome
(root) growth of the P. edulis or 'Moso' as most gardeners know it by.



In just three to five years a single planting of this size
Moso will yield three inch canes twenty five feet in height
under ideal site conditions here in the southeast.

November 8th.

Coming soon will be photos of upcoming deliveries next week.  The first
stop on the trip will be 32 divisions to Georgia. The second stop, 20 divisions for
a repeat customer in North Carolina and finally to Huntsville, Alabama
with large divisions of P. nigra Henon 'Giant Gray'.

Bonnie Harper Lewis arrived at 11:32 today with a head full of black hair.

 

Harper is very healthy and having only been here 9 hours is already
making web appearances. As you can see she is a beautiful little girl
who has already stolen our hearts away.

We will soon have news and photos from an upcoming delivery.  A large
landscaping firm in Georgia has ordered and we will be preparing their
order next week.  Photos of that order and delivery will be posted in a couple weeks.

Our new member of Lewis Bamboo, Harper, is scheduled to be born Tuesday the 8th.

Visit us soon and pick up soon of our larger sizes. The above photos
show how large a 25 gallon size is in relation to a 200 plus pound
object.

Below, Paul visited recently
to pick up a large trailer load of bamboo.

Our Fall mail order rush  has kicked in gear and we are
pretty busy. Russell and I have been potting up divisions
that were dug 6 to 8 weeks ago. After digging from our groves
we always move the new bamboo into a shade area with watering
for 6 to 8 weeks before potting them up.

My father, Roger Sr., had surgery on two herniation spinal disc and
is doing very well. Too many years of digging and lifting giant bamboo
divisions like the ones below. Hopefully he will help out in the office
and continue to do bamboo consulting for Lewis Bamboo in the future.

    

October 1st.

Above and below are our typical 3 gallon starter
divisions of timber bamboo.

 

 

   

 

The photos below show Roger working with 4 tons of hardwood sawdust.

 

 

September 1st.

Due to Hurricane Katrina we expect to lose power and phone communication. All orders scheduled for shipping out today the 29th., should go out as expected. I am sure we will loose power some time later today.

Click here to see our 'Open House' event. Below are just a few
photos of our visitors and the bamboo. Four separate tours
through out the day were given to show everyone around.

  

 

We have been very busy this Spring and Summer. Through out our Price List, we have been updating the growth data that our customers send to us about their bamboo. We also have been posting new photos on the picture pages linked to many of our bamboo species on the Price List. Hope you enjoy, below are 14 new photos showing what we have been up to.


Giant divisions of P. nigra 'Black' dug, stabilized
and then potted. We have over 300 ready for 2006.

 

 


Shown above are several hundred 15 gallon sizes of 'Black'.

Below are some of the 35 gallon containers of 'Black'.
These weigh well over 200 pounds and a tractor
is used when loading these.

  Here are 80 of the 'Golden' in 15 gallon containers.

  220 of the 3 gallon Sasa Palmata have been completed.

 
Above shows part of our Rubro holding area. There are 780 divisions
of rubromarginata in the 2 and 3 gallon sizes now potted. They are
growing rhizomes like crazy and will be for 2006 Spring ordering.


Below are over 200 containers of P. nigra Henon 'Giant Gray' in
3, 10 and 15 gallon sizes that we have completed in the last two months.

 

 
Above shows part of the holding area which
contains over 300 of the super cold hardy Phyllostachys
bissetii. This one is doing great in climate zones that go
to -15 to -20 degrees F.




Above are 48 of the Sasaella masamuneana 'Albostriata'
we have ready to go. This holding area is located in front
of the timber bamboo 'Robert Young'. This is a little beauty
and we sell a lot each year. These will be sold as soon as
they are stabilized.





August 14th.

My wife Gayle and I have been growing bamboo for many years. We currently grow over 154 species and maintain 234 grove plantings. Bamboo is our passion and we are devoted solely to this plant. With groves planted on over 28 acres we stay busy grooming and tending our bamboo. We are semi retired as we can never really retire and be happy. Our son and his lovely wife Rachel live in Tuscaloosa in a new home they purchased in 2004. They also have a river home in the middle of our bamboo groves. Our first granddaughter, Harper will be arriving November 8, 2005-----can't wait!!!

I will not list them all, but here are a few of my babies.

63 species of Phyllostachys with five different clones of 'Moso'
16 species of Pleioblastus
3 species of Pseudosasa
9 species of Sasa
4 species of Sasaella
4 species of Semiarundinaria
3 species of Shibataea
2 species of Sinobambusa
3 species of Arundinaria
8 species of Bambusa
3 species of Indocalamus
2 species of Hibanobambusa
3 species of Chimonobambusa

I live in: Alabama        My zone is: zone 7a AL

My birthday is on January 27th.

 

          

July 5th.

July 4th.

 LEWIS BAMBOO

Roger Jr. and Russell have been busy digging for next year. This coming year we hope
to again have over 7000 divisions dug before next Spring. We had a record in sales
this past Spring and hope we can offer as many great divisions for next year.

  

Above is some P. bissetii in a holding area, before being
potted they will under go stabilization for 6 weeks.

Below they are moving new divisions just dug to another holding
area. This section is one of the more specialized holding areas that
is watered 16 hours a day via a dedicated monitoring system. This
particular system is comprised of four separate watering pumps.


 

Many of the the shrub and ground cover bamboo have already been dug. For the
rest of this year, they will be concentrating on the larger Phyllostachys bamboo.

 

   

 

 

 

June 16th.

Our latest news is that the 15 gallon sizes of Moso are finally ready.
We have been putting customers off until these large divisions' new
canes were hardened off and ready for transport.  Most have 10 to 14
feet tall canes with lush foliage.

 

 
These have grown fast and each 15 gallon container weighs over
100 pounds with multiple canes.  These can be picked up here at
our bamboo farm. Set up an appointment and select yours while
you still can. One large landscaping order from one of our contractors
and these will all be gone. Prices range from $175 to $200 each.

Call   205-686-5728      Monday through Friday 8 am to 4 pm Central time.