Don't get me wrong,I love the plant.When it sheds its leaves take a long time to decompose so you have to rake them up.We have a place called Fairchild Tropical Gardens that has a whole section devoted to bamboo.There is a black bamboo that is gorgeous with purple hues that is my favorite.I have seen in my travels in the Orient where they use bamboo for scaffolding on commercial sized buildings.And I see them in shops here as tiny papers that must really be hard to write on
