Pygmy Bamboo

I am a zone gardener at Brooklyn Bridge Park which means I am responsible for a small part of Pier 1 near the entrance (outlined in purple below). I tear out weeds, pick up trash, remove fallen debris, tell people where the bathroom is...you know, just overall park maintenance.

For those of you who have not been to Brooklyn Bridge Park yet, I highly recommend it. There are two lawns to picnic and play, a number of pedestrian and bike paths, as well as wetland and rain water gardens. And the views of Manhattan are breathtaking! There are events all year round that you should check out too: Brooklyn Bridge Park. OK now back to my zone.

Horticulturally speaking, my zone is pretty simple. There are a lot of shrubs like hollies, hydrangeas, and witch hazel and some trees like maples, lindens, and magnolias. Right now, the fall color is starting to poke through the leaves and it is a really pretty mix of greens and reds.

However, there is one plant that is terrorizing my zone! Pleioblastus distichus or Pygmy Bamboo. It is an invasive ground cover that is spreading like crazy and suffocating my other beautiful shrubs.

Bamboo grows shoots in the spring and roots in the fall. From September until now I have been pulling the bamboo's roots, called "rhizomes," out of the ground in order to try and control their spread. It's not an easy task as these rhizomes spread pretty far from the mother plant and create a tangled latticework five inches beneath the surface.

Scary right? I've pulled out some runners that are three feet long and counting. At the end of these "runners," the tips are extremely sharp and help to navigate quickly through the soil. Overall, it is a handful to contend with and if you choose to plant bamboo I highly recommend that it gets planted in a container. Or else you will have to eventually pull out these tentacles and I promise you will curse yourself for planting it in the first place.