Sorry about the spelling error (!)...

I don't think full sun will pose a problem, particularly in your climate. I've been growing one in a 25-gallon container in my greenhouse for several years and haven't planted it out only because I have been worried that I might lose it in a cold snap. So, while I don't have particular experience with this one in the ground, I do have experience with about forty runners of other species in the ground. I will point out that Tootsik can get fairly large under ideal conditions (up to 30 feet high), so I would imagine that the rhizomes would also get a decent size. For many years I did not use barrier and kept my bamboo under control with rhizome pruning. I have now started to use barrier in vulnerable locations, like near my asphalt driveway (where the rhizome can get under the driveway and later cause a raised bump when the asphalt gets soft and pliable in the summer). I also use barrier for runners close to property lines. The reality is that rhizome pruning works, but mature bamboo can send out runners for 10' or more in a several month period, and, if you don't keep up a more frequent pruning schedule, or miss one, you can have a problem popping up farther away than expected. I also have instances where a rhizome will get far out from the grove and into my (somewhat ratty) lawn, and then I have to tear up the lawn a bit when extracting the rhizome. I've gone with a combo of: 1) partial barrier in key places, 2) planting bamboo in raised mounds with no barrier (which seems to make it easier to spot traveling rhizomes), and 3) unprotected plantings where I still use rhizome pruning.

My conclusion is that a runner is a runner. You can use barrier to keep it under control, or, if you have space away from the property line and other valuable plantings you can practice rhizome pruning. Often, it will take at least three years before a runner really starts to travel, so it's true nature will take a while to develop. Just be aware that the bamboo will outfox you every once in a while.

Great answer - thanks! I think I'll play it safe and keep mine in the large container after all. I have a LOT of plants in my garden and it would be all too easy to miss pruning out an errant rhizome and I would have nightmares worrying myself about it. (Yep, I admit it aqain, I'm a bit of a sissy about runners :)

I have one in a 5 gallon pot. Before last Winter, the plant grew roots through the bottom holes in the pot so I decided not to overwinter it in my greenhouse and left it where it was.

As it turned out, we had one of the coldest Winters on record in recent times and it survived without any damage. It is definitely cold hardier than most of, if not all of, my Bambusas, which are in the ground.

Kt

kentuck-
We're both in an 8b Zone, although in different parts of the country. Last winter was pretty bad for me, too. Just how bad was your bad?