Duration : 0:6:38

Technorati Tags: 2007, and, bamboo, carpet, ceramic, cork, decor, decorating, design, family, Floor, flooring, furniture, hardwood, home, ideas, inspired, interior, lees, nature, one, paint, Regina, stone, Sturrock, tile, Trends

The Asians have utilized bamboo for centuries, used in their food, their shelter, and their daily life. Ancient Asians used bamboo as a paper product, created homes and furniture with dried bamboo, and even used it in soups. Yet, bamboo can be used for some much more.

When dried and treated, bamboo is a very rigid wood, which can be used in flooring for homes. While at times expensive, bamboo is a great alternative because it can so quickly be replenished in nature. Bamboo can hold up in most any element, which is why it was so valuable to the ancient civilizations of Asia. Its durability and strength makes bamboo an excellent choice for building material.

Bamboo is often seen in construction due to its rigidity and core strength. It is no wonder that previous generations in America used dried bamboo stalks as fishing poles. The bamboo stalks were durable enough to hold when a fish was hooked. Bamboo is still used in small towns across America, though western and European cultures comprehend its value beyond the every day fishing pole or wind chimes.

Since bamboo is a grass, it is a renewable resource. It needs very little room to grow, since certain varieties grow upwards to sixty feet. It generally takes weeks for the grass to grow back once harvested and continues to grow year round. It is these certain attributes that make bamboo quite beneficial to modern civilization.
However, if you are planning on adding bamboo to your current garden, it is advisable to do your homework first. Bamboo, while easy to maintain, can be tricky to remove from your land once it is planted, so make sure that you have the proper plant for your climate, garden and abilities. Once planted, all you will need to do is keep it watered regularly- after all, bamboo requires a great deal of water- and trim it to the appropriate length and width you desire. With over 1,500 varieties of bamboo available, it can get pretty tricky trying to find the perfect plant for your yard. This is why researching your grass is so important. There are varieties that have both clumpers and runners, then bamboo which have one or the other. Clumpers tend to grow outward, while runners grow upwards. Depending on your garden, you will need to decide which one is best suited for you.

The Chinese consider bamboo to be extremely lucky, so having this evergreen in your yard or home can bring much luck to your family. Though lucky bamboo is not traditionally bamboo, but more of a houseplant per se, it is still lucky. And anyone who has bamboo in their yard should consider himself or herself lucky, for they have planted one of natures greatest grass and are giving back to the planet they love.
http://www.bamboopower.com/

Duration : 0:3:45

Technorati Tags: and, art, bamboo, book, garden, gardens, grow, history, how, of, products, sourcery, to, tree, trees, water

Since bamboo is a grass, it makes for an aesthetically pleasing and attractive addition to any garden. Bamboo has two types: clumpers and runners. Runners, as their name suggests, will run as far and wide as they possibly can. Clumpers clump around the center of the bamboo and grow slowly outward. Some varieties of bamboo have both types of bamboo, while there are varieties which only have one type.

There are plenty of varieties to chose from, many that can grow in full shade to full sun gardens. Unlike many household plants, bamboo requires a great deal of water, which is why is grows so well in tropical regions. If your yard is not a moist area, or does not have an area of water collection for your bamboo, you will need to water it more often than your other plants.

Bamboo is also great for the house, adding lovely greenery to any room regardless of lighting. Just makes sure to get a variety of bamboo which does not require a significant amount of light, if you do not have a sunny spot to place it in. In Chinese cultures, bamboo is considered good luck and placing it in the house ensures luck living in your house with you!

Currently bamboo is used as an environmentally friendly hardwood floor alternative. It is also be used as furniture material and house construction in certain third world communities. It has even been used to make such every day items like fishing poles and wind chimes.

Since bamboo is a renewal resource and has a substantially less growing time, bamboo can save trees! A stalk of bamboo only takes approximately two months to grow back while trees can take upwards to several decades to grow back into useable material. With such a short growing time frame, bamboo is a great, economical and environmentally friendly alternative to deforestation. Bamboo can grow back many times over in the time it takes to plant, grow and cut down one tree. One tree! Think of the acres of trees we could save by switching to such a renewal resource.

Yet, bamboo can offer people yet another great environmental benefit. With bamboo being a grass and have green leaves, it can filter the air around us and release clean, fresh oxygen in return. They can be our very own air filters! By breathing in the toxins and carbon dioxide that we give off, bamboo can absorb the toxins and give back oxygen for us to breathe in. All we have to do is water them. What a great deal.

Bamboo not only makes a garden more attractive, but it can provide necessary material for the worlds population. Between paper products, bed linens, hardwood flooring and other uses, bamboo may be the pine of the future. And we thought the pandas were just chomping on grass all this time!
http://www.bamboopower.com/

Duration : 0:2:0

Technorati Tags: and, art, bamboo, book, garden, gardens, grow, history, how, of, products, sourcery, to, tree, trees, water

With it being such a hardy plant, bamboo has developed many new and exciting uses. Not only is it pest resistant, it can help farmers with wind erosion and rain run off. This sturdy plant can keep soil in place, particularly in new construction areas, where the goal is to keep soil in the proper place and not have it move after a heavy rain.

Its durability makes bamboo an excellent industrial material as well. When dried and treated, bamboo can be used for a multitude of products, such as clothing, paper, furniture and building/construction material. Bamboo is also considered a food alternative. Bamboo shoots are widely held as a delicacy in Asian cultures, but are slowly finding an audience in American and European cultures as well. The Chinese have even devised a way of making beer out of bamboo. There are fragrances now that are use the essence of bamboo. You can even wear bamboo organic clothing. The possibilities are endless when it comes to bamboo!

There are so many ways to use bamboo shoots, runners and stalks for industrial and commercial use. Its quick growing nature makes it a valuable renewal resource, only requiring a few weeks to grow to full capacity rather than several decades as most trees. In fact, certain species of bamboo can grow up a foot a day, if living in the proper conditions.
While most bamboo is native to Asia and Australia, there are some that have become acclimated to certain regions of the United States, particularly the more tropical regions of the south. Florida has many types of bamboo growing wild in the swamps, as well as in the landscapes of well-groomed and finely manicured yards. Bamboo is a naturally dense plant and makes for a great environmentally friendly and very private fencing substitute.

The American trend is to use bamboo as a hardwood flooring alternative to pine, oak and other flooring. Since bamboo is naturally pest resistant, it makes it a great choice for household use. It is also as strong and durable as its hard wood cousin. While bamboo might be a bit more expensive at times, it is an environmentally friendly, eco-centric decision to install bamboo flooring in your home.

Purchasing bamboo products is a sound decision. Not only do bamboo products stand the test of time, yet as a renewable resource, bamboo can be replenished in nature within weeks without any major environmental harm. Utilizing the growing speed, strength and versatility of bamboo allows the environment a chance to replenish its own tree population and gives us much more sound, environmentally friendly options.
http://www.bamboopower.com/

Duration : 0:3:45

Technorati Tags: and, art, bamboo, book, garden, gardens, grow, history, how, of, products, sourcery, to, tree, trees, water