Total newb here. I've fallen in love with bamboo, and last summer I asked a neighbor (and it's a funny story) if I could dig some of her bamboo. I hadn't really even looked closely; imagine my delight at finding P. nigra :) It's now sending up shoots in a pot; I adore it in the pot but plan to liberate it pretty soon. Still thinking about best placement.

But my request has more to do with -another- local stand of bamboo, which I've been eyeing. I jogged by there this evening and the stand looked unloved but still healthy - old culms just falling (I guess that's free fertilizer at least), and a few trees growing in there. Anyway, I knocked at the house and asked about getting some; the guy said "Take as much as you want! The only way to get rid of the stuff once yuu've got it growing is to move away." Another southern bamboo-hater :)

So I'm going to borrow a pickaxe (or... better suggestion?) and grab some - assuming the timing isn't absolutely wrong - it's got young and growing shoots, but I had such luck with the nigra in the dead heat of summer last year I feel ambitious. Any thoughts on timing a raid on an established stand?

But my PRIMARY question is about ID. These are evening cell-phone cam pics, and I hope I got enough 'parts' to alow someone familiar with them to ID them. This is in central NC (Raleigh):

http://picasaweb.google.com/hogarth/Bamboo#

Thanks for any help with ID and tips on getting some of this established at my place!

Here is a link that might be useful: Pics of stand south of Raleigh