August 21, 2015
CapitalPress.com
Lifelong fascination
with bamboo takes root
By CRAIG REED
For the Capital Press
Diane and Gib Cooper stand
among the taller bamboo plants
at their Tradewinds Bamboo
Nursery near Gold Beach,
Ore. The couple have been
selling bamboo plants through
Tradewinds since starting the
business in 1986 in Potter Val-
ley, Calif. The nursery has been
in Gold Beach since 1992.
Tradewinds Bamboo Nursery
Owners: Gib and Diane Cooper
GOLD BEACH, Ore. —
When he was a high school
student in Japan, Gib Cooper
was impressed by the land-
scaping in that country and
the significant role bamboo
played in providing a clean,
neat look.
So a few years later, in
1972 while in his mid-20s,
Cooper started growing a
few varieties of bamboo.
Ever since, it’s, been a life-
time livelihood for Cooper
who is now 65. He and his
wife, Diane, have owned and
operated Tradewinds Bam-
boo Nursery since 1986, first
in Potter Valley in Northern
California and then in Gold
Beach in southwestern Ore-
gon since 1992.
“I lived in The Philip-
pines and Japan in my youth
and I saw how important
bamboo was and how useful
it was in both those coun-
tries,” Gib Cooper said, add-
ing that he was a member of
a military family. “Bamboo
was an iconic part of the hor-
ticulture in Japan as well as
day-to-day use.”
Cooper liked the clean
look of bamboo, an evergreen
plant in the grass family. Gi-
ant bamboos are the largest
members of that family.
He also noted that grow-
ing bamboo hadn’t drawn
any commercial interest in
the U.S. When the American
Bamboo Society was founded
in 1980, Cooper was quick to
become a member. In 1983,
he partnered with a Japanese
man and established Pan-
da Products, a business that
marketed bamboo seedlings.
The partners started a 10-acre
bamboo farm.
“Nobody else was grow-
ing bamboo in the U.S.,” said
Cooper who was a licensed
landscape contractor and al-
ways had a nursery as part of
Where: 28446 Hunter Creek Loop, Gold Beach, Ore.
What: One acre of more than 200 varieties of bamboo, in 2- or
3-gallon pots or larger groups of plants
Business: Primarily mail order; appointments can be made to visit
nursery
Information: bamboodirect.com
‘I lived in The Philippines and Japan in my
youth and I saw how important bamboo was
and how useful it was in both those countries.’
— Gib Cooper, co-owner of Tradewinds Bamboo Nursery
Craig Reed/For the Capital Press
his landscaping business.
But the farm suffered a
rodent problem.
“Gophers, moles and
voles, they beat us,” Cooper
said. “The young seedlings
were killed by the rodents.”
The partnership dissolved
in 1986. The Coopers then
started Tradewinds. A few
years later the Coopers be-
gan looking for a wetter,
cooler climate than that of
Mendocino County and sub-
sequently they landed a mile
south of Gold Beach.
“It’s on the coast where it’s
never too hot and never too
cold,” Gib Cooper said. “And
there were no rodents here.”
It was also a good loca-
tion because Cooper likes to
surf and there are some good
spots for that along the coast
in that area.
The nursery grows more
than 200 varieties of bam-
boo, in pots and in the
ground, on about 1 acre. The
plants range from 6-inch
ground cover to timber
groves 50 feet tall.
Cooper explained that
there are 1,500 varieties of
bamboo in the world. Only
three are native to the U.S.,
but about 500 are native to
Central and South America.
“I grow a good selection
of native America species,”
he said.
Depending on the spe-
cies, bamboo will run and
spread over a large area if
given time and the right
conditions or it will grow
in tight clumps. Tradewinds
sells both, although Cooper
said his focus has become
more directed toward the
clumping types.
“Everybody has a good
reason to want to buy bam-
boo,” Cooper said. “The
most common is to grow a
narrow strip between neigh-
bors to block the view.
People also buy it for craft
purposes, and people from
Japan and China miss having
bamboo shoots to eat in the
spring.”
To help growers and
customers learn about and
conserve the native bam-
boo species, Cooper helped
establish Bamboo of the
Americas. He helped with
that program from 1999 to
2014 and spent time as the
executive director. He was
also vice president of the
American Bamboo Society
for 6 years and was one of
the founders of the Oregon
Bamboo Association.
Because the bamboo
nursery is around their
house, the Coopers do busi-
ness primarily by mail order.
Appointments can be made
to visit the nursery.
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