Thank you for your interesting article.

When Mary and I travel to her home on the island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, we spend time cleaning the large section around the family home, and planting a variety of plants including bamboo.

She grows bamboo mainly to help with wind protection. Being in the tropics, tropical cyclones can cause devastating damage, including on Rarotonga. Bamboo is perfect for reducing damage on the leeside of their stand. Consider planting bamboo stands on the side of your properties that take the most wind damage during storms.

If you get insurance, let your insurance agent know that you have bamboo as wind protection. You might - and I stress might! - get a rebate on your insurance premiums. In this way, bamboo can be of financial benefit for your landed investments.

Bamboo is also useful for staking. Cut bamboo stakes and leave to dry for a few months, under cover. You can then use these to stake plants like tomatoes, to construct fences, to make frames for plants like passionfruit, and so many other uses.

Grow different varieties of bamboo: some to eat, some for small projects like fences and frames, and others for building homes.

As @rokhani says, let's switch from plastics to plants for our containers. As well as bamboo, coconut palm branches and other plants can also be used. For example, we use banana palm leaves as plates, as well as our local alternative to plastic wrap or tin foil wrap.

Bamboo is the world's fastest growing grass. Let that characteristic benefit your life too!