Brian, This year has been so hard on my Boos. Easter weekend two days of 17 degree nights, killed all my new culms, then new culms started again and we were hit by a TORNADO ! Many new culms broke at the ground. My Robert Young recovered and has 25 foot culms over 2". The spectablis Is doing well except for the damage caused by the two events. I'll see if I get some viable seeds and we can talk about sharing. Dave

Flowering is not very well understood. There are various approaches to trying to save flowering bamboo, but there is no guarantee that any of them will work in particular cases. The link below -- posted on the web site of the American Bamboo Society -- provides an interesting discussion of the phenomenon. Here is a link that might be useful: When Bamboo Flowers

Similar to others from the area, like Cedrus deodara, Pinus wallichiana, Picea smithiana, etc., i.e., most origins not hardy below zone 8, but selected origins might just work for you. Resin

Over the past couple of years, I kept cutting my original patch back because I didn't know what it was, and I thought it looked very cool. If I am remembering this correctly, the leaves are red tinged when the first come up. I thought it was some sort of maple, (which I would pull up), but I knew it wasn't. This year, I let it get the big white flowers and berries. It would seem like the constant cutting back has been good for it, because there are a lot of berries, and the plant has topped out at about 3.5 feet. I did notice a bigger stand of it mixed back in with the border shrubs, very close, so it must have gotten there by the underground runners. So it will spread, back to my original dilemma, do I keep it or not. Probably, I am kind of in love with this plant. Thanks for the responses, it is so helpful to hear others experiences and opinions