I have quite a bit of space. It is very rural here. It was all just bare sand surrounded by woods and I have been working hard for 3 yrs on planting things. Figuring out what works and what doesn't. The unseasonably warm weather followed by a prolonged cold snap damaged my crepe myrtles, saucer magnolia, roses and even my carolina jasmine. My clematis, on the other hand seems fine. I suspect there are other things damaged that I just haven't discovered yet- I wonder if the buds on my azaleas survived... I expect most of my plants to survive, but maybe not bloom at all this spring. Not much time to do anything outside, going camping this wkend. Hope my cousin can keep things watered and cats fed. I am a sucker for garden mags- anything beautiful. I can't imagine living in the city, but then I grew up in the country. Sorry for running on- it has been a very busy month and I expect it to stay that way at work, at the same time I am trying to plant spring plants, garden, etc. I am a bit stressed... So much to do, so little time to do it in! Well,I am going to figure on getting the clumping kind. I still have not figured out where I want it exactly (concerned about planting too near the septic lines- idiots put them all across the back yard!), but I will figure it out. Clumping bamboo sounds like a great, low-maintenance plant, gorgeous and useful. Glad to hear yours survived the cold weather. Brandy

You can control them this way. The downside is that it will do nothing to reduce the root system and you could find yourself dealing with quite a few shoots in a few years. I control my bamboo by pruning the root system, and this helps concentrate where new growth comes up. If you did that, you would likely have somewhat denser growth in your original planting area.

My runners send out rhizomes in the Spring. Wouldn't hurt to check twice a year. They can travel pretty far from the parent plant. I am not sure how far since mine are in a rhizome barrier. I check to see if any have gone over the top of the barrier. I am not sure how deep. Others on the site have more experience then me.

I don't use rhizome barrier if I can get by with rhizome pruning, but, in your case, I think it will be better in the long run. As for buying rhizomes on eBay, I avoid it. The success rate with even getting a plant from a rhizome is probably 10-50% when you have really fresh rhizome and you know what you are doing. Secondly, I have grown from rhizome (using my own stock), and I would expect that it would take you between 5-10 years to get a plant 15' high. Even when you have a full, potted bamboo plant, it will take 1-3 years before it sends up shoots. If you seriously want a 15' high bamboo hedge any time in the next couple of years, you will need to get some decent size plants to start with. While there are sellers on eBay who sell bamboo plants, my experience is that many of them don't know what they are doing. They generally aren't bamboo growers, but people who have bamboo growing in their yards and want to make a little cash by getting rid of some of it. You may get a plant which has been topped and had most of the dirt removed from the rootball to cut down on shipping costs; it may arrive with the exposed roots dried out. If such a plant survives, it will need a couple of years to recover from this. I am not trying to discourage you. I am giving you a dose of reality so you won't become discouraged by trying to cut corners. Find a local seller of potted bamboo plants so you can see what you are buying, and so that you will have an immediate start to your screen with something that will do well and look good from the start. Good luck.