So I live in zone 4. On the warmer side of zone 4 I think. And I want to do a japanese garden. I live in an ugly area and share a lawn with my obnoxious neighbors. I'm wondering if cold hardy bamboo is a good idea, and if so, running or clumping? I've read some conflicting information. Clumping is supposed to be good because it's less invasive, but bad because it gets unsightly dead stalks in the middle that you can't get rid of without cutting new growth. And the roots are more invasive because they will break through hard structures like concrete. I've been led to believe that running bamboo is a bad choice because it spreads like crazy and is hard to control and your neighbors will hate you. But I've also read that it's a better privacy screen and is easy to keep maintained and under control. That new stalks are easy to kick down because they are soft with an abundance of water. But is this extremely time consuming? Can anyone with experience growing bamboo shed some light on this for me?
I live practically on a river. There was bamboo growing near it. I thought it would be a neat to put some at my back fence. So I dug up a little clump and planted it. Within months it was as tall as the power lines and spreading like crazy. Yes... it would make a great privacy fence.... but it's hard to control once they get started. Even if you chop down the old shoots... new ones will continue to pop up. So my advice to anyone who wants bamboo... be ready to battle it.
Thank you for the advice! I may not have problems with the height. All the varieties I've researched will only reach 8 feet high or so in Zone 4. But it sounds like I might be constantly prowling the area kicking down shoots. How stressful. How... not-zen-garden-ish. It may be more beneficial to save up the money to purchase woven bamboo fence sections.... hmmm.....
You can help keep it in a certain area by shoving a spade down in the ground at the border you decide on to slice the roots. You may have to do that every few weeks to keep on top of it but at least you will have your bamboo screening. Just kicking down the shoots doesn't prevent the roots from spreading.
Could you plant a clump in say 5 gallon planter (the black kind that plants come in from the garden center)? Plant as many as you need, but they could be contained and controlled that way. At least that's what HGTV says!
I've had two lots of bamboo in my garden for years. They are the clump forming variety and I've had no trouble keeping them in check. They haven't spread much at all over the years - maybe around 6". I do have to trim the tops every now and again but it's no harder than trimming the trees and shrubs I have. :-D
I didn't think Bamboo was hardy below zone 7??? If that is the case, it wouldn't be too difficult to control as the winter would take care of that.
I have growen clump bamboo and it was not a problem. I found the dead bamboo canes nice to look at, and the sound they make when the wind blows them nice to listen to. Some years I remove all the canes, and some years I leave them standing throughout the summer. It's nice when you need some support sticks to simply go to the stand of bamboo and cut however many canes you need to support plants, make enclosures or whatever you need them for.
Yay! Lots of great advice. my original plan was to build long narrow planters from 2x4s. apparently the roots only go so deep, so this would be similar to a common method that involves digging a trench and lining it with thick plastic. it might work! Also, I am enticed by the idea of wind blowing through the dried bamboo... and i love making windchimes from bamboo...
I have golden bamboo and have had it since 1983. It is a running bamboo, but there are some tricks that have worked for me to keeping it in check. Don't water it or anywhere near it once established. If you do it will search out water and head for lusher territory) Put it against a path or mow around it regularly (my dogs run hard along that part of the property line). Watch around the edges, the runners are often near the surface before they head underground and you can see them and pull them up. The last and most important is once it is sending up sufficent stalks to harvest, harvest, harvest. Bamboo is really useful in the garden, and friends and strangers can use the poles. My bamboo was always contained until the rental next door stopped mowing their lawn five years ago and they weren't real friendly (actually a little scary) so I stopped watching the fence line. New clumps started in the neighboring yard. It is still in check in my yard. Golden bamboo does occasionally set seed and all the plants in an area will die. (Happened here in 1984 and my plants were small so I kept the seed heads picked. Happened in 2001 in Vancouver, B.C. area) I have heard of bamboo putting holes in fish pond liners, so I am not sure plastic liner would work, but I don't have any experience with that. The bamboo does really like water so maybe it could smell the water. I really use my bamboo a lot and still like it after all these years.
i went for camping in village with my friends and we lost our equipment at that time bamboo helped us to build camp.
