Sometimes, one gardening decision can reshape a hillside. Golden bamboo had been grown in Hawaiʻi for a long time without raising much concern, according to a 2009 review by Corey L. Gucker published through the USDA Forest Service’s Fire Effects Information System. In 1992, scientists saw it spread from a single planting along a road in Kailua, on the island of Oʻahu, into adjacent wild land. The patch grew to more than an acre on a steep hillside, pushing out almost all the native vegetation there.
A pretty plant with a long, quiet history
