At times I can be utterly surprised about nature’s wonders and how it seems to have a will of its own. A few weeks ago I bought some lucky bamboo and when I took them out of their plastic flower tubes I had to cut the plastic caps so I wouldn’t damage the fragile roots. I bought them at my favourite love-hate store which is a risk basically, since they don’t seem to care about any living organism in general and particularly those that use photosynthesis.

So of course when I took them out of their tubes it started to reek of hydrogen sulphide because the water had not been changed in days [wouldn’t surprise me if that would be weeks actually]. Some of the roots didn’t look well, as in rotten or disintegrated, and I was wondering if the bamboo would even survive this traumatic experience of extreme neglect. I wasn’t willing to give up, so I planted them as I intended to do: in a glass vase filled with small stones.

I was extremely careful handling the roots but I could see most damage was already done and I just had to be patient to see what would happen over the next few days. I filled the vase with a small amount of water, just enough to keep the stems covered in about 5cm. To my surprise I noticed the stems started to grow new roots. It’s amazing to see how they slowly seem to find their way through the gaps between the stones, extending each day and carefully growing in any possible direction.

Over the last couple of days the water level started to come down and one tiny new root basically ended up above water level, so I kept an eye on it, curious to see what would happen. It could start to dry out so I would have to top up the water to keep it alive. To my surprise the root had a growth spurt all of a sudden and while the water level was going down the root was growing almost twice as fast to keep its tip in contact with the surface of the water.

I wish I hadn’t watched it because now I’m stuck with these questions in my head, I already seem to have a reputation for coming up with odd and weird questions. But it’s stuff I wonder about like: how does it ‘know’ where to find water? Why is the root growing; in search of what?

Nature’s wonders…

Snippet:

According to Feng Shui masters, having Lucky Bamboo in the home or office will help to ensure good fortune. In Asia, bamboo is a symbol of health and wellbeing, while in India it is a symbol of friendship.

In several Asian cultures, it is believed that humanity emerged from a bamboo stem. In the Philippine creation myth, legend tells that the first man and the first woman were split open from a bamboo stem that emerged on an island created after the battle of the elemental forces. In Malaysian legends a similar story includes a man who dreams of a beautiful woman while sleeping under a bamboo plant; he wakes up and breaks the bamboo stem, discovering the woman inside. In Japan, a bamboo forest sometimes surrounds a Shinto shrine as part of a sacred barrier against evils.

In Chinese culture, the bamboo, along with the plum blossom, orchids, and chrysanthemums are all held in high esteem and are collectively referred as “the four of great nobility”, with one representing each of the seasons.

Source: Flower Encyclopedia