American Bamboo Society Annual Conference 2009

 BAMBOO

September 30 through October 4, 2009 Committee members:

Ian Connor, Ned Jaquith, Bill Hollenback, James Clever, Daphne Lewis

To celebrate these unique groves and to honor bamboo’s utility and fast growth, the theme of our conference is “Bamboo: Green – Sustainable”. Come hear our researchers, enjoy our gardens, view our unique city on the water, and learn about the sexiest new bamboos.

The conference will be held in downtown Tacoma at the sensational Hotel Murano. The hotel is beautiful. The sleeping rooms are elegant and have free WiFi. The view from the rooms is of the harbor with its container ships, suspension bridge and sparkling water. The hotel is located near the glass museum, the history museum, and the convention center. The Tacoma campus of the University of Washington is nearby. A tram runs frequently connecting with buses and trains.

At the time of printing, not all speakers are confirmed. Details are still being worked out. We will update information in the next “Bamboo” and on the conference web site www.abs2009.pnwbamboo.org. We will be publishing a proceedings available at the Registration Table.

On Wednesday, September 30, the board meeting will be held at the Hotel Murano.

On Thursday, October 1, we are thrilled to present two choices: Tour or Seminar.

Conference Tour. The tour will take you first to the Rhododendron Species Garden and the world class Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection. The Garden and the Collection are located at the Weyerhaeuser Corporate Campous, in Federal Way. The Garden covers many acres. The garden is organized by ecosystems and geography. Years ago our Chapter planted bamboos among the rhododendrons. Stroll the garden paths and admire the amazing variety of rhododendrons (species, not hybrids!) and check out their companion bamboos and ferns. The second stop will be at Bamboo Gardens of Washington.

The Bamboo Gardens of Washington.

This 20 year old bamboo nursery has mature stands of many Phyllostachys and some Fargesias. It is owned by Rainy and Jim Husband. We will wander in the tall groves. The final stop on the Tour will be at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium on the western tip of the port of Tacoma. Bryan Jones, zoo horticulturalist and ABS member, will lead us on a tour of the bamboo plantings at the Zoo. In addition to a fine collection of land animals, the zoo is famous for its aquarium with a glass wall. You walk beside the glass and view through it to the many creatures swimming on the other side!

Seminar. We have heard Dr. Lynn Clark and Jimmy Triplett speak from time to time. Always we were left wishing for more information and more explanation. Our committee member, Ian Connor, suggested that we need a whole day for total immersion in bamboo science. We will dedicate the morning to “The Phylogeny of Bamboos – Tracing Relationships through DNA” and the afternoon to “The Morphology of Bamboos – Identification”. Dr. Clark, an ABS Board Member, will not be speaking; her colleagues will.

On Friday, October 2, the main conference begins at the Hotel Murano. On Friday we are emphasizing bamboo as a green and productive plant for the 21st century. We begin our conference with David R. Montgomery, a professor in geomorphology at the University of Washington. His recent book is called  “Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations”.

David is an accomplished speaker and has won a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant. Andrea Melnychenko is a student at Portland State who is researching bamboo’s emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

When a plant breaths in air, it exhales oxygen, water vapor and a 5-carbon compound called isoprene. (Not all plants convert carbon to isoprene and many return unused CO2 to the air.)

How does isoprene react to polluted urban air? Andrea has taken 100s of leaf samples from the groves at Ned Jaquith’s Bamboo Garden in North Plains, Oregon. Different species of bamboos vary greatly in the amount of VOC that they emit, unlike other plants. Andrea has a Miller Foundation grant to continue her studies of bamboos and urban air.

Following our dirt and air scientists are our WSU Research and Extension bamboo team. Farmer Wade Bennett has sold 12,000 pounds of bamboo shoots in the last two years! Wade harvests bamboo shoots from his Rock Ridge Farm and from the research bamboos at WSU Puyallup.

Wade sells to local farmers’ markets, caterers, and chefs. Dr. Craig Cogger and Andy Bary, soil scientists at Washington State University Research and Extension Center in Puyallup, are the men who planted and take care of the 27 replicated plots of bamboo at WSU. They compile Wade’s data into yield and varietal information that farmers can use. They teach farmers.

Bamboo Hardwoods is a Seattle company that sells bamboo flooring, plywood, veneer, poles, and splits. Doug Lewis, founder, is working on a wastewater project in Mexico. Clear the water with “Blue Frog” technology and then use the water to grow bamboo. Doug and his team will talk about bamboo from the point of view of the utility of its wood.

After our initial emphasis on bamboo and sustainability, we open the conference up to what we bambuseros love – bamboo, the plant. Ian Connor and Bill Hollenback will present “Sexy New Bamboos”. They will entertain you with their knowledge and soften you up to bid for the marvelous plants coming up in the Rare Plant Auction on Saturday afternoon. Remember that this auction has rare plants AND it is the main fund raiser for the ABS.

We end Friday with a banquet catered by the Hotel Murano. Mike Bell, English plantsman extraordinaire, will speak to us after dinner about bamboos around the world. Mike was President of the British Bamboo Society. He will speak on the Keith Rushforth collections and clumping bamboos in the UK.

On Saturday, October 3, we will soften our ecological focus and move towards immediate bamboo concerns. ABS runs an art competition each year and gives grants to winners. Charissa Brock, bamboo artist extraordinaire, is our new arts and crafts coordinator, continuing the program begun by Nancy Moore Bess.

Charissa will talk about the arts awards program and share some of her own work. Whitney Adams is renowned for his scholarship and plant explorations in the Himalayas.

Robin Rosetta will speak on bamboo mites, their biology and control. Ian Connor and James Clever will speak on managing bamboos in the urban and suburban landscape.

During lunch, Ted Meredith will introduce his new book “Timber Press Pocket Guide to Bamboos”. His earlier book, “Bamboo for Gardens” is a bible to many. The annual meeting will be held during lunch. Mike Bell will be our final speaker in the early afternoon.

Bill Hollenback will conduct the Rare Plant Auction. Some plants will be on display; some plants will be here in digital form only. Send your photo to Bill Hollenback at bsauction@bambooweb.info.

Buy these plants and the donor will ship directly to you. If you are a donor and wish to send your plants physically to the auction, first, be sure they are mite free.

Second, send them to Pacific Northwest Chapter President Phil Comer 360.432.8493  stikinmud@comcast.net  161 SE Currie Way Shelton WA 98584.

Donors can submit a photo of the plant for the auction if they would prefer to ship directly to the auction winners. The bidding for plants with photos will start on-line September 10th and on-line bids will be accepted until September 23rd.

Galen Carlile is our energetic auctioneer. Galen is cofounder and previous president of the Oregon Bamboo Society. He is co-owner with his wife Rosemary of Grassworks Bamboo. They manage a 6 acre display garden in southern Oregon.

On Sunday, October 4, we are scheduling a workshop on farming bamboo for shoots and poles and managing bamboo in the landscape.

This workshop will take place in Puyallup at WSU 15 minutes east of Hotel Murano. We will be promoting this workshop to local farmers and horticulturalists as well as bambuseros. Part of the workshop will be held in the campus lecture room and part will be in the groves.

The groves were planted in 2001. Andy Bary and Craig Cogger will conduct the farming part of the work shop. James Clever and Ian Connor will conduct the landscape part of the workshop.

Submitted by, James Clever, Ian Connor , Bill Hollenback , Ned Jaquith , Daphne Lewis