Zone 5 - which bamboo to grow?

[Cheyenne]

Hello everyone. I do honestly so look forward to hearing from anyone who is knowledgeable in everything bamboo. I've been doing some homework, but obviously not enough and look to you for help. I live in a suburb of Chicago (zone 5) with lots of clay. I have a nice neighbor whose dog run I have to look at and would really rather not - and thought bamboo may work wonderfully in this corner to totally screen the chain link run! This corner butts against my neighbors property who has a dog as do I, so the bamboo must be safe to dogs. I also do not want the plant(s) to intrude upon my neighbors property. To make matters worse, It's shady in the am, fairly sunny in the afternoon (about 1pm-ish) and pretty dry. It's kind of far to drag the hose all the way across my property to water back there, but will do it to establish, otherwise I'm hoping for maintenance free-water-wise. I've tried to grow simple regular grass back in this corner, and grass does ok if it keeps watered, so as you may have deduced, there's little to no grass back there now. I like variety. Height is no problem. I've got a LOT of room and think it would be neat if there were many varieties back there, I just have no idea what would live/overwinter here. Can anybody send me some helpful hints, good sites to purchase from, anything??? Thank you all so much! Cheyenne.

[CaroleMeckes]

Hi Cheyenne,

Zone 5 has minimum temperatures of minus 10 to minus 20 degree F, so you are limited to which bamboo you can grow in the Chicago area.

Since you are concerned that the bamboo not spread to your neighbors yard,
you might choose one of the Fargesia genus. These are clumping bamboo that like shade and can tolerate the cold temperatures.

Here is a link to the Fargesia section (http://www.bamboo.org/SpeciesSourceListPages/SpeciesTableF.html) of the American Bamboo Society Source List (http://www.bamboo.org/SpeciesSourceList.html#TheSpeciesTables)

You can plant several types of fargesia for variety - here is a link to Fargesia (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showgallery.php?cat=663) in the Bamboo Flora Gallery.

I've been living in Texas since I got involved in bamboo - so I have no personal experience growing Fargesia, since it is too hot here for that genus.

Does anyone else have some suggestions?

Carole

[cngodles]

I'm zone 5B and I've been able to grow 3 species outdoors greatly, and 1 that seems to die back a bit.

Phyllostachys Aureosulcata has been great for me, but now that I'm into my 3rd year, I've found that it can spread quickly. I spent 25 minutes under my deck last night amazed at how far it traveled. There are 45 new shoots under my deck alone that will not make it as they can not make it through the deck. However, it traveled 10 feet. And not just on rhizome, but 5 of them took off in that direction. That's not counting the 6 other confirmed ones shooting where I want them to.

If you could get your neighbor to agree with it, you might get away with it. My neighbor is cool with it, but I am going to install a ramping barrier so I can catch them before they jump my yard. If it's where a dog runs, the dog will more than likely knock over any invading shoots. But I would bet that bamboo would skip that yard and travel over to the next.

As for Fargesia, the only one I have experience with is Fargesia Rufa. It's nice to look at, but has only grown to 32" tall where I bought it May 8th, 2006. I have an entire thread about it's progress here. It's very cold tolerant, even being locked in ice and keeping green leaves.

[ShmuBamboo]

Some of the Fargesias will stand temps as low as -20 degrees F. They are clumping types as well, with pachymorph rhizomes, so they do not have runners. The two that withstand the coldest temps are F. murlialiae (umbrella) and F. nitida. F. nitida is just finishing its blooming period, so there are a lot of newer variable ones coming out from seeds.

Some of the Phyllostachys are also very cold tolerant. They all are rampant runners though, with leptomorph rhizomes. Phy. atrovaginata (Insence bamboo) will go down to -15 degrees F. They have a nice cedary scent when they are rubbed, hence the name. Phy. aureosulcata will go down to -10 degrees F., so that is borderline in your area, but there are some nice varity of types of that bamboo with culm stripes and crooked culms. Phy. bissetii will also go to -15 degrees F. and Phy. nuda (AKA Stone bamboo) will also go down to -20 degrees, so that should do well, even in Chicago.

Those are the most cold tolerant of bamboos that I know of. And I thought that zone 8b was cold?