This week I took greater notice of something I see nearly every day — the patch of bamboo at the dog park. I think it’s grown there simply to provide variety to the areas for the dogs to explore, but not until moving to the south had I ever seen it also grown in many people’s yards and gardens. According to Feng Shui principles, bamboo at the front of the house ensures long lives of those in the household. Bamboos (Bambusoideae) encompass 1,439 species, and it is the fastest growing plant on the planet. Everyone knows about bamboo’s importance to pandas, but bamboo has a lot of cultural significance as well: Hindu flags are flown on bamboo flagpoles; bamboo paper is used to make ‘spirit money’ (money burnt in offering to those in the afterlife) among some Chinese communities, and the first ever gunpowder-based weapons were crafted from bamboo. Bamboo is present in mythology and folklore across numerous cultures, including the Philippines, Malaysia, Japan, and Hawaii.
