A pleasure often not appreciated is the sound that the thicker culms make in the breeze. Most people notice and like the way bamboo moves in the breeze, especially plants having a 'fountain' of foliage arching down under its own weight.  The sigh of the wind through their graceful plumes of foliage contribute greatly to the sights and sounds of a garden, but too often goes unnoticed. Large plants with thick culms have the additional attraction of a characteristically unique hollow 'clunking' sound as their culms bump together in the wind. It would be an exaggeration to say that the sound is like a bamboo windchime, but it helps to describe the effect! We first noticed this sound in the bamboo forests of Hawaii, and then found similar sounds in the Far East. It can be heard even in England, and it has been commented favourably upon by people not normally too interested in gardening. Broadly, the thicker the culms the more likely are they to make this sound, which to me has an almost therapeutic quality. Sadly my soil conditions are difficult and, whilst many of my culms are well in excess of 12' tall, they mostly do not exceed 1" in diameter and so produce less of this sound than desired. Writing this makes me wonder why there is no home made windchime in my garden - this must be rectified, soon.

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