It looks and acts like wood, but bamboo is actually a grass. It takes about a year for a bamboo stalk to grow to maturity and then from one to six years for it to cure as a building material. Compare this to growing and harvesting trees, a process that can take a decade or more. And unlike a tree, which can be harvested only once, bamboo regenerates like grass after it’s cut.

Read on for tips on using bamboo for your outdoor projects.

NEXT: Construct a Bamboo Fountain