Bamboo is an excellent choice. It is everything you are sxpecting. The only downside would be control of the root system and you have allowed for that.

As you transplant use larger pots for more support for the larger plants. At some point you could dig a trench at leat a foot deep and a couple feet wide and line it with rubber pool liner or some of the gardner cloth to conatain the roots.

Good luck
Phil

Make sure to check a number of sources for the right choice of bamboo species. An excellent on line source of information (no plants for sale) is the American Bamboo Society http://www.americanbamboo.org/

From here you can decide on colors, growth patterns, and sizes of mature plants.

Aloha Maiolo,

I live on Oahu in Kaaawa. We just planted a Golden Bamboo, or Tiger bamboo, bambusa vulgaris vittata and love it! We had severe wind storms this past march that blew down our "windbreak trees", so we had a huge area we need to block quickly. Our neighbors have a huge 2-story house that looked right into our house from their top floor - hate that!

Anyway, our variety is clumping and has sent out 3 shoots that are now taller than our house!!! If you chose bamboo, it is a good idea to buy a variety that gets taller than what you need, cause then you can prune it to the height that you want. Most varieties say they grow up to 15 feet, but that may or may not happen, so advice i was given is to plant one that is more than what you need. We planted ours just this past March, 2004 and we are thrilled with the results. The more you water it the faster it grows. An excellent online source is bamboonursery.com. They are in Kohala on the Big Island and have an AWESOME online catalogue that spells out all of the features of a huge variety of bamboos.

Good luck, Aloha,Melanie

Now, this is just my opinion but I would suggest a different approach. Rather than repotting the bamboo every year, I would just stick it in the ground and plan to prune it back every so often, by actually harvesting the outside poles and depending on the variety the inside poles too. The uses for these poles are limited only by your imagination, and of course the variety. Plant stakes, kite frames, fly swat handles...
Naturally you will want to select a "clumping" (sympodial) rather than a "running" (monopodial) variety, since they will be much easier to contain in your suburban environment, and probably anywhere else for that matter!
I would be very careful about putting a running bamboo in pots and thinking that it won't break free while you're not watching. A friend of mine did this with a phyllostachys nigra and it got loose. His poor wife was out there with the pick and shovel for 4 or 5 saturdays in a row and could still be at it for all I know.
I would suggest one of those cute little clumpers like Bambusa Multiplex "Fernleaf" or "Golden Goddess". They should grow to about 3-4m tall. You could prune the tops off of them, but wouldn't it be easier to research how tall a variety tends to grow locally and get the one that most matches your needs?

Hey there maiolo,
You have probably already planted something by now but how about bananas!!? they are very fast growing and will also give you lots of fruit and they renew themselves too. Plus they are easy to control. The keiki that shoot up will hide the lower part of the wall and the big momma will hide the neighbors!!