Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Running or clumping?

The bamboo arrived from Portland this week. Cramped and crushed in a too-small container--like the immigrants they are--the plants have a new home.

These plants are runners. Their roots will shoot far and wide underground (unless you dig a trench and surroud them with metal). The plants had burst through their plastic containers like little superheroes stretching in the morning.

Among the runners was one clumper. Bamboo either runs or clumps, much like people. The clumper is a gorgeous baby with reddish stems and feathery leaves. She now lives in acidic soil near the rhododendren and my neighbor's enormous evergreen.

I used to be a runner, but now I clump. Which are you?

6 comments:

mydisguises said...

i'm a runner with clump tendencies. for example, i just woke up from sleeping 11 hours. however, i did run in the dream, so that must count for something...my friend grew bamboo in her back yard and the neighbors called some officials on her. they grew so high and beautifully, it looked like Nam! go, bamboo.

Erin O'Brien said...

I am de vine.

Sara said...

I am definitely a clump. Happy 4th, Amy.

Maureen McHugh said...

A clumper. I think running wore me down. I ran to college, then to New York City, then to China. But where ever I went, there I was.

jessica said...

i'm a runner. then i get exhausted in the georgia heat and i clump all day long and watch 8 or 9 hours of msnbc's "lockdown" a.k.a "clumpdown". happy 4th amy. i miss you.

Nin Andrews said...

OK. I run. Yeah, well sort of. I have these two little ten pound terriers, Bostons, who are little clumps and they kick my ass every AM. If it weren't for them, well who knows what I'd be. My dogs are the best thing about me.