If i pay shipping do you think you can ship a small division? Or maybe i can send you some of my P. Aureosulcata. It will get around that size, but what is your min temp

have a fairly oung one that I planted as a 2 gallon plant two years ago.Looks awful when the temps dip to about 10f.It does come back but is not very vigirous. I have had much better luck with F.rufa that was planted at the same time and size. It has tripled in size and is nice and green.Make that "oung" "young".

"fast growing" may be only in comparison to other Fargesias. They are clumpers and are well behaved as far as spreading goes. The only growth this year will be some new shoots and those may only be a little taller than the rest of the plant. Once all the shoots have grown, there will be no more height growth on the plant. Next spring you should get more new shoots, which will be taller still, and so on each year after. I'm afraid you will see your neighbors for at least a couple more years, maybe more. Phyllostachys (running bamboo) are much more agressive, it took mine about three years to screen out a 7' tall area. Eric

Several weeks ago I was at Lowe's and saw some smallish Fargesia rufa being sold (maybe 1 foot tall/one gallon??) They were in the perennials section. There was only one prize listed in the whole area ($7.95 for all I thought). I selected about four Fargesia and preceded to checkout. Well, my total came to over $100.00 dollars (a lot of money for tall grass in my opinion--and I really am a bamboo lover). Convinced there was a mistake, I asked to speak to the manager. Sure enough, that was the price. I walked out annoyed and left the bamboo in the cart. When I got home, I started dividing the two Fargesias I already had in the ground so now I have a small hedge of Fargesia and Borinda angustifolia starting to develop. Now, they have just been there for a maybe a year, but they don't seem to be as fast growing as spreaders (such as Phyllostachys). Time will tell, maybe their pace will increase. They are in a great location (dappled sun mostly/some morning direct/relatively cool area under an oak). So the issues I see include; potential cost (even for little plant), moderate rate of growth, and the expectation to have a 20 foot tall screen without have to wait for years (if your neighbors are really spying on you, who want to wait a decade to do something about it?!). Do any Fargesia even get this tall? The other issue with Fargesia is that they dislike both excessive cold and heat (I believe they are subtropical mountain species mostly). The OP's St. Luis, Mid-Western location may be too extreme for it. I had to move mine from a sunnier/more exposed location to their current position. PS., At another end of the property (neighbors I do not like), I do have an island grove of Phyllostachys (nigra, aurea, vivax, and viridis) but this requires regular attention to rhizome pruning (which I do in early Spring and mid-/late Autumn.) Good luck!