INBAR's garden at the World Horticultural Expo 2011

http://www.inbar.int/show.asp?BoardID=83&NewsID=753 INBAR's garden at the World Horticultural Expo 10 July 2011 International Horticultural Expos have been held periodically since 1960, and bring together horticultural practitioners from around the globe to create national and themed gardens that showcase the latest trends and influences in horticulture. The Xi’an International Horticultural Expo 2011 is the third of these events to be held in China, after the Kunming Expo (1999) and the Shenyang Expo (2006). The Expo includes gardens from many of the provinces of China, from African, Asian, American, European, and Australasian nations, and from companies and organization, and often designed by some of the foremost garden designers in the world. INBAR’s GARDEN Overall view of INBAR's Garden INBAR’s garden showcases the social, economic and environmental benefits of bamboo to a vast audience through a modern bamboo garden with living bamboo and well expresses the theme of the Xi’an Expo - "Eternal peace and harmony between nature and mankind, nurturing the future earth - a city for nature, co-existing in peace". The central yard of INBAR's Garden INBAR’s garden is located in the Five Continents Park of Xi’an Expo and covers 1450 m2 and combines a modern open style with Chinese traditional features. BAMBOO IN THE GARDEN Almost 30 different species and varieties of bamboo from Louguantai National Forest Park (Zhouzhi County) in Shaanxi Province are grown in the garden. Some are very rare, such as a black variety of Phyllostachys heteroclada and Phyllostachys nigra (Lodd. ex Lindl.) Munro. (For the bamboo list in the INBAR garden, please see below). Full-height bamboos were transplanted to the garden to make garden landscape earlier this year. The climate of Xi’an is warm temperate, but very cold and dry in winter, which are not ideal growing conditions for bamboos. To ensure that bamboo could prosper better during the Expo, local bamboo planting experts from Louguantai National Forest Park took the following steps: The bamboos were first heeled-in at a temporary protected site until early spring when temperature was a little higher than in winter. A good and larger than normal root ball was maintained around the roots when the bamboos were moved. For tall species, the leaves in the lower part of the culms were cut and those in the upper part were kept to keep their nice shapes as well as water retention. After planting, good drainage channels were made in the soil and the culms were tied together with sticks to keep the plant steady and upright in the new location. The bamboos were watered once a day early in the morning or late in the afternoon in the first two months after transplanting, and the leaves watered too. Small grasses were planted among the bamboos to conserve water and keep the soil warm. As a result the bamboos have performed very well during the Expo. Left to right: Black variety of Phyllostachys heteroclada; P. nigra; P aureosulcata cv. Spectabilis The garden after rain BAMBOO PAVILIONS Three bamboo pavilions surrounded by bamboo, designed by Markus Heinsdorff and donated by the Goethe Institute of Germany dominate the centre of INBAR’s garden. Everything from facade lattices to flooring are made of bamboo, and the structural vertical poles of the basic structure are of raw bamboo, which displays the original natural beauty of plants. Seen from above, the middle pavilion is shaped like a diamond and the other two pavilions like drops of water. The curvatures of the pavilions produce stable structures. The slightly inclined roof of white, translucent membrane and wall of transparent membrane provide natural room lighting during the day. This is the fifth year that these bamboo pavilions have been used for exhibitions, demonstrating incredible durability and sustainability of bamboo. Bamboo pavilion BAMBOO AND RATTAN EXHIBITS In the pavilions a series of diverse bamboo exhibits demonstrate a close relationship between human and bamboo in daily life, from traditional tools, like cask, inscribed bamboo-slips, music instruments, to modern luxuries like bicycle, surf boards and so on. Bamboo shoot charcoal Bamboo bicycle Bamboo has also been used to make the laminated flooring outside the bamboo pavilions. The well-designed texture and color ensure the outdoor bamboo flooring complements the elegance of the garden. Over 90% of these bamboo flooring raw materials are biodegradable, and can degrade to create topsoil. Floorings such as these were used to create the 3.6km boardwalk along the Huang Pu River in the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. In INBAR’s garden, you can enjoy a beautiful and serene night by walking on a bamboo path around bamboo pavilions along the river. The exhibition showcases INBAR’s global network and its contributions to landscape and eco-tourism, bamboo culture, poverty eradication, environment protection and economic development. Bamboo artist demonstrating Chinese traditional bamboo painting. The four background bamboo painting show bamboo in four seasons. During the Xi’an Expo, INBAR also cooperated with local enterprises that focus on bamboo and rattan products to bring new designs to the visitors. In one of the bamboo pavilions, modern designed bamboo and rattan furniture from the first enterprise focusing on bamboo and rattan furniture in Xi’an, demonstrated the versatility of bamboo and rattan in city life, leading a green and low-carbon life style. Wide range of rattan furniture in the bamboo pavilion, decorated with traditional Chinese umbrellas Nowadays, bamboo and rattan have demonstrated their particular versatility, durability and sustainability in environment protection, livelihood improvement and recovery construction, as the most important non-timber resources. We expect visitors from all over the world could understand more about bamboo & rattan’s prominent role in our world through this amazing bamboo journey in Xi’an Expo and could be touched like us. INBAR's garden is supported by the government of Xi'an, Xi'an Expo Organiser, the Southwest Branch of the China Research Center for Landscape Planning and Design Center, Louguantai National Forest Park, Zhejiang Dasso Flooring Co., Xi’an Jiahao Tianyuan Shengtai Rattan Co., Bambusace , and Markus Heinsdorff Studio. To date, 9 million visitors are estimated to have attended the Expo. INBAR garden is open from Apr.28 - Oct.22, 2011. For more information, Please contact Li Xin (xli@inbar.int). List of bamboos in the garden: 1、黄秆乌哺鸡竹 Phyllostachys vivax cv. Aureocaulis 2、黄纹竹 Phyllostachys vivax cv. Huanwenzhu 3、桂竹 Phyllostachys bambusoides 4、寿竹 Phyllostachys bambusoides f. shouzhu 5、红竹 Phyllostachys iridescens 6、红壳雷竹Phyllostachys incarnata 7、罗汉竹 Phyllostachys aurea 8、毛竹 Phyllostachys heterocycla cv. Pubescens 9、金镶玉竹Phyllostachys aureosulcata cv. Spectabilis 10、黄槽竹 Phyllostachys aureosulcata 11、紫竹 Phyllostachys nigra 12、蓉城竹 Phyllostachys bissetii 13、黎竹 Acidosasa venusta 14、筇竹 Qiongzhuea tumidinoda 15、辣韭矢竹 Pseudosasa japonica var. Tsutsumiana 16、矢竹 Pseudosasa japonica 17、茶秆竹 Pseudosasa amabilis 18、薄箨茶秆竹 Pseudosasa amabilis var. tenuis 19、江山倭竹 Shibataea chiangshanensis 20、黄条金刚竹 Pleioblastus kongosanensis f. aureo-striatus 21、翠竹 Sasa pygmaea 22、平竹 Qiongzhuea communis 23、黑水竹a variety of Phyllostachys heteroclada 24、天目箬竹 Indocalamus migoi 25、黄竿京竹Phyllostachys aureosulcata cv. Aureocaulis