HAWAI'I GARDENS
Try the noninvasive, clumping bamboo types
By Heidi Bornhorst
Q. How can I learn more about bamboo? Do you think termites would eat it less than conventional home construction materials? We want to grow bamboo for timber to build an addition on our home. Is this doable? My wife thinks the big, strong wood-like kind of bamboo won't grow here in Hawai'i.
— Milton Hariguchi, Manoa
A. Bamboo can grow very well in Hawai'i. There are some species with great potential just starting to be grown in Hawai'i.
A great place to learn more about this new crop, landscape plant and giant grass is at Ho'omaluhia Botanic Garden. There is a seminar there on April 24 from 9 a.m. to noon featuring bamboo experts and local growers.
Peter Berg and Susan Ruskin of Quintembo Bamboo on the Big Island will share tip on recently imported clumping bamboo species. Berg and Ruskin are among the top bamboo authorities in Hawai'i.
Paul Weissich will discuss traditional and modern uses of bamboo in art, literature, construction and in the home.
There will be a bamboo sale for class participants only. These will be clumpers, not runners. Running bamboos can be invasive and take over your yard or the forests.
Helen Hayashi and Elsie Horikawa, who are bamboo aficionados, will display and talk story about their collection of bamboo artifacts.
Many will be on sale. Temari, the center for Asian and Pacific arts, will demonstrate the making of kadomatsu (a traditional Japanese New Year decoration) and discuss its significance.
Bamboo Hawaii will display and discuss collections of Asian bamboo artifacts and contemporary bamboo construction items from the orient: flooring, wall covers, fencing and matting.
Call 537-1708 to register. Cost is $20 for members and $25 for nonmembers. Join the Friends of Honolulu Botanical Gardens today. You can mail in your check to the Friends at 180 N. Vineyard Blvd., Honolulu, HI 96817. Space is limited.
You also can bring a picnic lunch and enjoy it in the garden after the class and bamboo sale.
Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden is one of our greatest scenic and botanical treasures on O'ahu, supported by your city tax dollars, and it's still free.
Q. How do I best maintain my expensive and much-needed hand tools for gardening? They cost big money nowadays, and I need them to do a good job.
— Jimmy H, Waikiki
A. Keep them clean, put them away and don't leave them out in the rain. Clean and oil the hinges but not the cutting blades. After a lot of use, you can sharpen them with a whetstone. Store your hand tools in a dry area with good air circulation.
Use a sheath to protect them and keep them with you.
If they are a dull or hard-to-see color, consider painting them a bright color so you won't lose them. This also helps to mark them as yours.
A good tool makes a clean, precise cut and is a must for gardeners in Hawai'i where, with some plants, we need to do a lot of dead-wood removing, removing spent flowers for better blooming, and shaping and sizing of our plants.
Heidi Bornhorst is a sustainable-landscape consultant. Submit questions at islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com or Island Life, The Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Letters may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.
