Re: Was Organic-Manic, now Giant Reed

Kurt wrote a lot of good reasons for not allowing Arundo to escape
into the countryside in certain areas plus:

>I don't think it's legal to import the stuff into California, although 
>there's plenty of it around for someone who'd like to go grub it up.  I'd 
>think twice about recommending it for a similar climate.

I would only recommend the variegated form in any case and in a garden
situation it is unlikely to get out of hand unless the garden was
severely neglected.  The main method of spread is through the tall
stems falling over with the nodes rooting, allowing a mass of new
growths to develop.  If the old stems are cut away when they topple
over, thus maintaining an essentially upright plant, the only way of
spread is via the rootstock which in not especially invasive in itself
- compared to running bamboos and the like.   I've seen it running
about in the marshes of southern France and you can occasionally track
the main plants back with the rootstocks which remain relatively
compact.  It is those immense stems that become the problem as soon as
they hit the ground.  A woody, 3" thick, 12 -14 foot long 'rhizome'
(which is what the stems effectively become) rooting with a mass of
shoots every 12" along its length is likely to become a major problem
in a very few years.

Dave Poole
TORQUAY   UK
http://www.ilsham.demon.co.uk/gardenviews.html
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