If you want to mix bamboo, I wouldn't use Buddha's Belly. The green stalks and similar leaves will just look like more Oldhamii, though not as tall. Any of the others should look very different as they have the yellow stalks.

I have the same clay here in Long Beach. All I did was make a hole about a foot and half wide, and just as deep, filled it with good quality topsoil, and planted the bamboo so that it was even with the top of the soil. It seems to be growing well. I'm not sure, however, how well the plant will do once it reaches the harder clay soil.

raiz,

Thanks...as far as the clay. Since I'm building a raised 2' retaining wall,. That will give me 1.5' of top soil. I guess I can loosen up the clay a bit and mix some top soil with it.

The Alphonse has green stripes on yellow culms. Max height is around 10'....so it looks like that might work. Any opinions?

This is a first for me with Bamboo, so I do not know the nature of the plants. With a mature Oldhamii, how far from the top does the foliage grow? 10/15' from the top?

Ralph

Oldhamii will reach 45 to 50 feet in your area and it grows very erect. It does well in clay but may spread a bit slower which would be a good thing in a smaller growing area.

Alphonse Karr will grow to about 25 feet in height in your area, it likes the warm weather.

There are a few other varieties that have yellow culms with green stripes that grow taller, up to 30 feet.

Bambusa eutuldoides 'Viridivittata', Bambusa pervariabilis 'Viridistriatus', and Bambusa vulgaris 'Vittata' PAINTED BAMBOO.

As all of these bamboos grow taller, they produce limbs higher up and usually have no limbs low to the ground.

Bambusa textilis, which is a green bamboo, doesn't produce limbs low to the ground once it matures, but the culms are so thick and numerous that you can't see through them. Here it grows to over 40 feet in height.

Kt

Plant the Big Banana Plants, they grow fast and tall, die in winter but grow back just as guick the following summer.