In early July last year I ordered 3 Moso seedlings (Phyllostachys edulis – a giant timber bamboo) on ebay Germany and had them sent to my parents who lovingly potted them up and looked after them.
![](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.bamboowoman.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/IMG_4524.jpg)
One of them I took to Liverpool in my hand luggage, and the other two were moved into my parent’s conservatory in autumn – to receive great interest from a little visitor who managed to sneak in unnoticed:
![German field mouse](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.bamboowoman.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/field-mouse.jpg)
Unfortunately the liking was to such extreme that she completely devoured one of the bamboos and badly ‘pruned’ the other – to then have a nap in the sun-warmed pot!
![](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.bamboowoman.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/20170920_194957_resized.jpg)
Luckily the survivor recovered with plenty of TLC by my parents and is currently doing very well on the warm and sunny window sill in their lounge.
![](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.bamboowoman.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/20171004_145135_resized.jpg)
The Moso I carried in my hand luggage survived the trauma of the journey to England with no signs of damage:
I keep moving it around the room during the day for maximum sun exposure, and beginning of October a beautiful new shoot emerged:
![New shoot 6th October 2017](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.bamboowoman.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/IMG_4729.jpg)
I decided to give it a bit more space so now it is living in a discarded colander suspended in a bucket:
![Moso in bucket October 2017](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.bamboowoman.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/IMG_4826.jpg)
At the end of February, I got news from Germany that a new shoot emerged, and the plant in UK also produced this beautiful new sight over the last couple of weeks:
![New shoot 12th February 2018](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.bamboowoman.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/IMG_5131.jpg)
![New moso baby shoot 23rd February 2018](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.bamboowoman.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/IMG_5166.jpg)
Of course the new shoots still have a very small diameter, and growth is very slow compared to the species I planted in South Africa, but they are equally enchanting:
![Moso shoot 23rd February](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.bamboowoman.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/IMG_5167.jpg)
One day they will be big and strong enough to be planted out, I yet have to find a suitable location – Moso is a hardy bamboo native to China and Taiwan and can survive temperatures down to minus 17 degrees celsius, but it likes a long, hot summer with plenty of rainfall to grow to it’s full size. In Europe it is now being commercially farmed in Southern Italy, and I would love to see how it will do in the area I grew up in. Aschaffenburg has the nickname “Bayrisches Nizza” (Bavarian Nice) for it’s mild climate, and in the right spot with the right care I believe Moso could do well.