judyny6, Was this the first winter for the nigra? If so it may have only been topkilled and you may get new growth in the spring. ...just a thought You should be able to get Fargesia robusta to 10'+ in a few years. Although, check with who you're purchasing it from. The 'Green Screen' variety is a tissue culture plant and some of these have growers that won't allow it to be divided and given away. If you go with one of the more cold hardy Phyllostachys, you could always top the culms to the desired height. Also, do some research on flowering so you know what to expect if this would happen with what you plant. Rick

Bissetii is a good choice. My plants are in their third season and have filled in nicely and most culms from this year are 6-8 feet tall. I started with 3 gallon plants. It does look a bit ratty until this time of year when the new leaves have developed fully. Each season has been hardier than the last.

Bruce- Very interesting. I think you are having good success in such a tough environment. The first thing that came to my mind was that you should experiment with a protective wrap...but I see you're ahead of me there. So, please report back in spring. One other thing I've heard of that might work for you is to bend the culms over to the ground, if you can do that without breaking them, and cover them over with a tarp, weight the tarp at the edges with rocks, and put mulch on top. The only other thought I have is to put a big pile of mulch at the base of each one in the fall and see if that helps with growth/recovery. One thing about the runners, mowing down the shoots does prevent growth above-ground, but it does not stop the runners from expanding below ground. You might want to practice rhizome pruning, where you chop down around the perimeter of your bamboo once or twice a year: what you chop through will die in the ground and not spread further. Anyway, I appreciate your post, and wish you luck. Here is a link that might be useful: Winter protection video

Poaky, I have some clumpers and some runners. You really betta be prepared to work if you plant any runner. Of the clumpers, we grow Fargesia rufa"green panda bamboo". It forms a tense grove if given some protections from Summer and Winter sun here in NJ/Zone 7. They were expensive initially, but each year I divided the clumps and extended the wall of bamboo. It is completely non-agressive and has 0% dieback in our winter, and is deer proof. So now there is a solid wall of evergreen bamboo on the eastern border of the house with neighbors (about 10 feet tall). I also have some runners in the back but am ever vigilant to keep them in check. This year was a mixed bag. There are openings in the tree canopy (due to previous hurricane damage), so light for bamboo to expand but there's been moderate drought, so they are kept in check. Besides, I have other weeds from HELL that make the bamboo look like a dream come true! It's all about balance with the running bamboo. They can be very aggressive given good growing conditions and a lack of vigilance. My intent is to plant more TREES in the back and create more shade to curtail (but not eliminate the running bamboo), and my new NEMESIS..., Scottish Thistle (The true weed from HELL). We got rid of a grove of running bamboo only to have this evil plant come out of nowhere to colonize. It's got 6-8 foot stems covered in thorns that penetrate my gardening gloves. I thought the bamboo was bad until I inherited this god awful weed. Now, I am rooting for the running bamboo!!