The lowest temp that we have had in the past several years has been 15F, but only for a short while(8 - 10 hours max), and quickly returning to above freezing. From my experience. textilis is much more cold hardy than any of the multiplexes, which get leaf burn once temps drop into the 20's, whereas textilis gets very little damage from cold or wind. It grows to just over 40 feet here and culm 2.5 inches thick... a real beauty. Tuldoides is about the same cold hardy as the multiplexes, but is a larger much more open clumper. I haven't got a Clones X, yet, but hopefully soon. Oldhamii is quite cold hardy once it is established, but mine froze to the ground it's first few Winters when it was small. It came back larger each year. Very erect, just over 40 feet tall and culms 4 inches thick. Dissimulator is still young but has shown no signs of leaf burn during Winter months. My glabra is not in the best location but seems to look like the large(regular) textilis, only it is smaller. The culms on both plants have a lot of blue/whitish colour on them at certain times of the year. The big difference so far is size. Gracilis is a very graceful looking plant. The leaves droop more than the other textilis' making a nice 'graceful' plant. Look into B. chungii, it too seems to be a bit more hardy than listed and a very striking plant. Others that get a lot of compliments are B. eutuldoides 'Viridivittata', B. pervariabilis 'Viridistriatus', and B. vulgaris 'Wamin'. All are quite hardy here except for the Wamin, but it makes a nice potted plant. Yes, we are extremely dry here. Rain has been going all around us and I can see thunderheads and lightning at night, but none are close. All bamboo in my yard get watered only when I water the lawn, which is one to two times a week, but I am on a very sandy hill, so water disappears quickly. In the heavier clay, once a week max is all they get a watering. There are a lot of bamboos that do well here and would well for you in your area, but I'm partial to the bambusas mostly for ease of containment. B. beecheyana, B. textilis var. albostriata, B. multiplex 'Silverstripe', and B. dolichomerithalla 'Silverstripe' all have survived 15F here also and are some other favorites of mine. I hope this answered your questions. Kt

1. No, it will not harm the sheep. They eat it here all the time. 2. It will possibly shoot up through the road base, but it depends on how thick the road base is and what type of road base it is. One foot of heavily packed road base will probably deter the bamboo from shooting through it, but even if some does, you can break off the new shoots or do a twice a year rhizome trim along the roadside. A plow or grader blade would do for this also if the angle is right. Kt

Does it have large leaves? Sounds like they may have dried out or either you had some really dry winds blowing. They need to be watered daily if the soil is well drained. Even if the soil around the transplant is wet, the rootball can still dry out until it takes root, so once again, keep them watered well. They may still be alive, but keep the soil moist and see what happens. I had some die back before, and thought they were goners only to find them putting up new shoots several weeks later. Kt This post was edited by kentuck_8b on Fri, Oct 25, 13 at 11:33

Yes, I agree that Maas has a nice selection but a bit expensive. You may try Caldwell Nursery in Rosenburg(Richmond?), they have a very nice selection and a nice website with pics. One thing to remember about bamboo, it is hard and a slow process to propagate. It rarely seeds, if ever, so growing from seeds is very rare. If you buy a large pot, say a 5-gallon or larger pot, and it seems expensive, remember that if it is well established in that pot, you can get several divsions from that one pot. I bought a Japanese Arrow bamboo in a 15 gallon pot several years ago and I was able to get 12 plants from it after I divided it. Although some were small, they grew quickly. I persoanlly like the clumpers and have only a few runners. I have 18 different varieties in my small yard, and 14 in a smaller fenced in area which used to be my vegetable garden. If you are looking for eye-catching specimens, look for B, chungii(blue bamboo), B. eutuldoides 'Viridivittata', and B. pervariabilis 'Viridistriatus' aka 'Sunburst Bamboo'. Blue bamboo gets the most compliments in my yard followed by the two latter, which both have bright yellow culms with green stripes. Kt