Bamboo, a staple of British Colonial style, is making a resurgence in fashionable new forms. It's turning up in contemporary flooring, furniture, accessories and even bedding, and it's grabbing the attention of interior designers and consumers who are drawn to bamboo's beauty, function and environmental friendliness. Bamboo wood is being used by architects and designers for construction, for airy summer houses as well as for design accents, even for dinnerware.

Versatility
You can eat it. You can build a bamboo fence. Or in its newer incarnations, bamboo is something of a paradox- Engineered into boards, it's stronger than most hardwood but spun into fiber, it's supremely soft - You can even dry off with a bamboo towel!

Bamboo can grow in many different climates, even in the blistering Arizona heat, gardening experts say. It is a rapidly growing grass, not a tree, and it doesn't need to be replanted, which eliminates the need for harmful pesticides. Unlike other grasses, it has a predetermined form and size. Most grasses grow when resources are available to fuel that growth. If more resources are present, the grass grows faster and gets bigger. If resources become scarce, the grass stops growing, perhaps losing leaves, only to re-grow more leaves when the resources return.

Landscape Design
Bamboo provides shade, wind break, acoustical barriers and aesthetic beauty. There are over 1500 varieties of bamboo ranging in size from dwarfs just a few inches tall, to giants of over 90 feet in height. There are clumpers that grow in a tight space and runners that spread their roots as far and as fast as possible. Some varieties even renew as much as three feet a day. There are varieties for most climates from tropical heat to freezing snow. Even the color of bamboo spans the spectrum; from yellow to green, black to blue, and red to purple.