The stems go dormant only during periods of sustained cold temperatures, meaning they have continued to spread during North Jersey’s recent spell of unseasonably temperate weather. Popular as an ornamental privacy screen, the plant can grow through cracks in sidewalks, pool linings and home foundations. RELATED: As towns grapple with bamboo, Old Tappan regulates planting Those stems are known to spread several feet in a matter of days, in defiance of property lines, and support canes - or culms, as they are properly known - that can grow as tall as 50 feet. “We usually say, ‘If you have a problem with your neighbor, you have to go to court.’ ”īamboo of the genus Phyllostachys - there are upward of 75 different kinds - is commonly called “running bamboo” because, if left unchecked, it can leap from yard to yard through a system of underground stems. “Bamboo is a problem between two neighbors,” said Mayor Max Arnowitz of Hillsdale, who is critical of the bamboo ordinance the Borough Council adopted earlier this year.
Others, like Washington Township, have considered adopting an ordinance to regulate bamboo, only to abandon the effort after concluding that it would be difficult to enforce, or that it was not the place of government to interfere with the rights of property owners or to mediate in disputes among neighbors. More than a dozen municipalities across the state - including Wayne, Emerson, Hillsdale, Palisades Park and Rockleigh - have some sort of bamboo regulation in place. The growing consensus: There is no easy fix. In the process, they have had to grapple with questions about enforcement, property rights and even the role of government itself. In that case, neighbors might curse, sue or move altogether, leaving behind hard feelings and a yard overtaken by the rapidly spreading plant.īamboo - sometimes used instead of a fence to mark property lines or lend privacy to a home - has quietly emerged as a divisive issue in suburban North Jersey, where homeowners have joined local and state officials in debating how to regulate the plant. Good fences make good neighbors - unless there is bamboo involved.
This article was originally published on Dec.
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