It all sounds like a poem, or a metaphor, or a dream: Black bamboo blooms once every 120 years. All of it around the world blooms at the same time. Then, it all dies, and the cycle begins again.
The big event is happening right now in Southeast Portland at Leach Botanical Garden’s grove of black bamboo (scientific name Phyllostachys nigra). It started flowering about two months ago, according to Adam Hart, Leach’s horticulture director, and he doesn’t know exactly how long the bloom will last—its life cycle is difficult to study since the last time this happened was around 1906.
“It’s all a bit of a mystery,” Hart says…