I was thinking about trying this but using faux stone spray paint or adding a very thin layer of hypertufa to the outside and over the rim and inside down to about the future dirt level to disguise them/pretty them up. I would love to see pics of the painted ones too! Also, how easy are they to move? Nikki

The dollar stores are a fourite place for me to get some smaller pots........I usually find some brightly-coloured plastic waste-paper baskets. These are rather fun containers, and give a bit of colour to the garden first thing in the spring. You will hve to drill holes in the bottom, and, at the end of the season, simply put them in the plastics recycling bin, because the sun does a number on them.....they start getting brittle.

how many of this post is there??

It may be possible to contain them at least until the pool cracks as plastic doesn't last forever. If you want a big bamboo, but don't want the ones that run rampantly, an very simple solution is to plant the least aggressive running bamboo that you can find that is still hardy enough to grow. Some species simply don't spread more than a few inches each year, and partial shade can further help to hinder their growth. In the northeast, some running bamboos can spread up close to 10ft a year while others typically run less than 1ft. I never use barriers, but I've been getting rid of species that run rampantly. Here's an example of one of my bamboos that has made it up to 15ft tall, but still hasn't spread much. I haven't done any rhizome pruning either. Here is a link that might be useful: Picture of my 4 year old phyllostachys dulcis- note their may be different cultivators of this