This was another great day for us! We also visited Coenosium Gardens in 2004, this was during the DCS U.S.A. field trip. In that time I wasn't into conifers as much as I'm now, which changed a lot since that time. Bob was like a mentor to me, you know a person to look up to with all his knowledge. I learned myself how to listen and remember the stories about conifers which were told by people like Bob. Now it's time for me to continue telling those stories to people who are interested... All for me left to say: Bob thanks for everything you're doing for the conifer world, I still hope you'll be among us for a long time! Also thanks for having us at your beautiful gardens!

Wow, those are some oldies, I'll have to finish them later~

Casey, I'm definitely saving this website. The pictures are incredible! Thanks!

I don't know about black bamboo or the two species you named, but if the neighbor's golden bamboo is any indication, fabric weed barrier will do nothing. Bamboo barriers are thick, so I'm hoping that is the plastic you mention to contain it, or it will likely be poking through your planter and possibly destabilizing it. What material is it going to be? Five feet may be deep enough to make the fabric's containment abilities irrelevant. If it does escape, just be prepared to dig with a very sturdy shovel (preferably with a warranty in case it breaks). I'm not going to tell you not to plant bamboo, I'm just going to give you recommendations to help you contain yours better than my neighbor did their running bamboo. In terms of keeping it alive, I generally consider potted plants to need hardiness at least one, preferably two, zones colder than your nominal zone to have a good chance of survival through most winters. Unless the raised bed will be very large, it will also lack the insulation that in-ground plants receive. Semiarundinaria fastuosa 'Viridis' is hardy to zone 6b, so Philadelphia being 7b might be okay for that, if that's accurate for where you are in Philly, but Phyllostachys viridis lists as zone 7 some places (I saw a mix of sources saying 6 and 7), so I'd want more like zone 8 conditions for peace of mind in a raised bed unless that bed was going to receive insulation in winters or you typically get 5' of snow to provide said insulation. Phyllostachys nigra (black bamboo) appears also to be zone 7, so again I'd have concerns about it making it through colder winters. Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Spectabilis' is hardy to zone 5, so I would be relatively comfortable with its survivability in a zone 7b raised bed.