1.3 feet. It will eventually grow under that short of a disatnce of concrete unless it is deep, but even if and when it does, it won't run out of control. Like Kudzu said, plant it and don't worry. New culms will emerge only a few inches from the existing ones, so if a culm comes up where you do not want it, simply break it off. Fredgpops, I don't have your email. My account was hacked and then closed. The new email is the same except with two (2) underlines before the @. Let me know if you can't reach me. Kt

I have had several other Chusqueas for about 10 years, and I used to grow gigantea years ago at another house. They do not behave as was described to you. In particular, I do not believe that any bamboo, let alone a gigantea, would dive under a 36" barrier. I think your local vendor: 1) didn't know his species, 2) was exaggerating, 3) doesn't know the growing habits of clumpers, and 4) may have been commenting on an improperly installed barrier. I just don't buy it.

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

Kudzu - (1) the yellow striping is a characteristic of most of the smooth culms, but it is not as vivid on all of them. (2) the grooved bamboo is smooth going down and more "sandpaper" like going up the culm. The larger (non-grooved) ones are also more course going up but not as much as the smaller ones. Kentuck - the striped bamboo is about 2.5" thick and about 30-35 feet tall. I've uploaded some more photos. The link is: http://photos.gardenweb.com/garden/galleries/2009/11/bamboo1.html There are 7 photos, so just change bamboo1 to bamboo2-7 to see the others. Note that pic 1 and 2 are the same culm, but different sides. The striping occurs at 180 degrees alternating on each side, but the bamboo2 side is fainter. Bamboo6 is also a larger culm, but notice the the striping is not nearly as visible. Bamboo7 is just a picture of the base of the larger striped culm. Thanks guys!