There hundreds of varieties that will do well in zone 8. Could you be more specific?

Kt

sierra foothills 1600 ft. elevation. Down in a gulch. Gets cold in winter

But what are your requirements for the bamboo? How tall does it need to be? How close to the road will it be?

Hi,
I live in zone 8, Washington state. Last year I planted P. dulcis and am very happy with it. It grows fast and bushy. However it's a running bamboo but so far I think it's not too difficult to control.

I am looking to run it paralell to the road. It does not need to be a giant bamboo. A fast grower would also be nice. First spot is about five hundred feet long. Also in another location on property it can be giant. But does not need to be running variety. When I was younger, Bamboo was not so popular. Usually we did folks a favor, when we cleared a patch off properties. Not any more.

If you are going to have a 500' long bamboo hedge, you will need to plant runners, unless you have multiple thousands of dollars sitting around gathering dust that you can use to buy clumpers. Also, whatever you plant, use multiple species. Bamboo flower rarely and unpredictably, but, when they do, it will happen to all of your plants of that species within about a year or two, and they will die. Then you will have to start over. Nothing much sadder than a single species 500' bamboo hedge croaking...

P. rubromarginata might be a choice. Its a running type.

Hi bboy and coltrane,

How good of a runner is the bamboo you each mentioned?
I looked their pictures and they are kind of nice so I'm thinking of growing them on a hill.
Thanks.

Rubromarginata will run as far as you let it here in the deep south. Here is a grove a couple miles from where I live. We get a lot of rain, heat and humidity. Its seems to be a very tough and hardy bamboo.

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Wow! Thanks coltrane for the pictures. Now I know.