Now all of you have gotten me excited. I am wondering what type of things all of you do with your bamboo or is it just a beautiful plant? I am wanting to grow something I can use in a few years for who knows what. I would love to be able to turn it in to lumber for some crazy project. Does anyone think this is possible? If so what species should I look into? Also I have a hard time keeping grass alive so I would need something easy or GOOD instructions. Thanks for taking your time and let me know.
Joshua
Tech_artist@yahoo.com

wow,
i finally found a forum where people are talking about bamboo in utah.
I have 6 varities i planted last year. They are still creeping. I started with small plants so i have nothing over 6 feet but i suspect next year they will send some large shoots up. I will take and post pictures soon now that I know there are people out there interested locally.
-Ry

I live in Cache Valley, and I know of one person in Logan who has as a nice clump of Yellow Groove against the southwest corner of his house. Does anyone know of any other bamboo growing in Cache Valley? I'm going to try a couple of varieties this Spring, and want to know what the absolute hardiest variety is. I've grown four outdoor palm trees for over 10 years in Cache Valley by covering them with styrofoam boxes and adding a small amount of heat to the boxes with a couple of flourescent lights, but I don't think this is the way to go with bamboo.

There's a guy from Lindon who has posted somewhere in the forum and he has a tropical backyard. His screen name was zone_denial, and I'll put a link to one of his posts/threads below, with some cool photos. You might be able to send him a private message by clicking his name if you want to get his attention.

Here is a link that might be useful: Utah tropicalesque thread

To all of you in Utah who have responded to this thread. I am the Eric Layton referenced in some of the discussion above. I am going to replace most of my Phyllostachys nuda and am offering it to those willing to come pick it up. I have a limited area in my small suburban plot and other species are begging for a place to grow. I will watch this thread for any takers. This should be done soon before the shooting season starts.
Eric

Eric! Ooo! Me! Me! Pick me! I have been pining for bamboo and would love to come get some!

Two interested parties so far, that includes "aybennett". Still some left.

Eric, I would love to get a start! I live in Cache Valley. When would it be OK to stop by? How tall would the division be so I know what kind of vehicle to bring?

So far I have aybennett, arctictropical, and someone not listed above. I sent emails to them. They can pick them up when we coordinate a time.

If any of you happen to live on kensington at about 6th E can you please tell me what kind of bamboo that is along your driveway?

zachslc,
I stopped by on my way to work today. The bamboo have distinctive bends in the lower culms; marking it as a Phyllostachys aureosulcata(Yellow Groove) species. I looked for the tell-tale yellow groove and could not see any. Therefore, my guess is the all green variety of Yellow Groove: Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Alata'.
Eric

Just want to float this post out there again and see if there are any new members who are interested.

I just wanted to thank Eric In Layton for the nuda starts. Eric, one of the starts has sent up a shoot that has grown to 6 feet high in just three weeks, so they are doing well. I just hope they survive these Cache Valley winters. Thanks again!

Anyone know where I can buy bamboo for my yard in the Ogden area?

dhughes47, have you tried Valley Nursery in Uintah?

I have some bamboo growing at my house and I have no idea what it is. I posted some pics on my flickr feed and I was hoping someone could tell me what it is.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bamboo Pics Flickr

rvandrunen, quite often people mistake this for bamboo, but it is actually Arundo Donax, or "Giant Reed". I have a large clump of it at my home, and with proper fertilization and watering, it can grown to be 10-15 feet high in one season.

arctictropical, thanks for the info. It does get that tall.

I'm so happy to have found this forum! My husband and I just bought our first home and are thinking of planting some bamboo as a privacy screen in our backyard, but we have a few complications that are causing some uncertainty. We just ripped out a rotten 50+ yr-old chain link fence, so now there is no barrier between our backyard and our neighbors.

Some of the facts/needs:

The area is on the north side of our house. It currently receives shade from a tall pine on the west side of the house. (Though the tree may need to be removed soon)

Our yard is pretty small depth-wise (as is our neighbors), so we don't want anything that will be too "deep".

We also don't want any variety that will send out aggressive rhizomes, since all the surrounding neighbors just banded together to get rid of some pernicious Boston Ivy and grape vines.

As we are in an older neighborhood, we have power and telephone lines stretching through our backyard approximately 20 ft up from the ground.

And of course we have an extreme hot/cold climate since we live in Salt Lake.

SO, Is there a bamboo out there that will work within our restrictive conditions?

Probably the best bamboo for not spreading would be Fargesia rufa although it will not get very tall under 8' I have had my plants for over 3 years and still do not have any much larger than 3' and they do like the shade.

I will try valley nursery. Thanks.

Wasatch Shadows has Phyllostachys nigra, aurea, auerasulcata, Fargesia rufa, and dwarf white striped bamboo.

Hi all - I just found this excellent forum and have enjoyed catching up with the posts.

My wife and I just returned from 18 months in Indonesia where bamboo is used for everything from ladders and scaffolding to building houses. There are small businesses that do nothing but sell cut bamboo in pieces up to 25 feet long.

The fall before we left for Indonesia I planted four 2 gallon containers of Fargesia rufa that I bought at 75% off from Lowes along a fence line to try and hide a metal shed in my neighbors yard. They were about 2 feet tall.

When we got back in June I was happy to see all had survived and were now over 3 feet tall with some shoots reaching over 4 feet. What surprised me is how wide and deep they have become. They are over 3 feet wide and dense enough to hide at least half of shed. Hopefully in a few more years it will reach 7 to 8 feet and the eyesore will disappear completely.

hello, could someone or someones list places to buy hardy bamboo in utah. thanks in advance. I am interested in Phyllostachys rubromarginata any advice is this a good or bad pick for something nice to have in a garden. Also thanks in advance

Wasatch Shadows had 5 species last year.

Glover Nursery in West Jordan has several varieties this year so far. They say they have more on the way, but it sure is selling quickly.

I got some Arrow Bamboo a couple weeks ago in a small half gallon container. I guess I bought right before it started to shoot, and did it ever. It was up to my knee when I bought it, and tonight it nearly poked me in the eye. The Golden Crookstem hasn't budged, however.

Wow it has been over 3 years since my original post my plants are doing great. http://www.flickr.com/photos/natesplants/sets/72157612334799027/ this is a link to pictures of my plants. If anyone else is interested please post here or send me an email

I hope this thread is still active. It looks like it may not be. I am in need of help. Does anyone know anything about black bamboo? I want to buy some, or obtain some and I don't know where to go. I'd like to purchase locally if possible.

With kind regards,
Jacoy Williams

Hello everyone. I have been reading this thread for a while and it helped me decide to plant some "green panda". I live in Midvale UT (in the salt lake valley) and have always loved bamboo but did not think it grew here until I read this. I planted the two green pandas in April and they have grown about 8 inches in height so far. They are green and beautiful and happy. I ordered mine from bamboogarden.com and was pleasantly surprised at how fast they came and how great they looked. We purchased our home about two years ago with a 1/3 of an acre of land that had never been landscaped. So I ordered many different plants this year from many different websites and bamboogarden.com was by far the best experiance.

There was not one tree on our property so I have been looking into trees I wanted to plant to block views and provide shade. But today I decided the best thing to do would be plant some timber bamboo for that purpose. They are much cheaper and provide the shade and privacy much faster than any tree would.

I emailed bamboogarden, told them where I lived (zone, temp, location, etc.) and sent a picture of the area where we want to plant it. They suggested Phyllostchys Decor (Beautiful Bamboo) and a couple others but we went with the Beautiful Bamboo. I also ordered some Black Bamboo.

I am very excited! Thanks for all the help this thread has been.

BTW: I also did a bunch of research on controlling the runners and I think I'll go with a 3/4 barrier and a 1/4 pruning ditch.

How well does the black bamboo do here in Utah. I have seen some at Hogle zoo, but it didn't look to happy. Not sure if it was a lack of care, or not doing well in the climate though.

groem, I planted the black bamboo and beautiful bamboo last year in July (I know kind of late) The beautiful bamboo doubled in size by by fall, but the black bamboo didn't really do anything. I talked for quite a while with the people at bamboogarden.com and they advised that the black bamboo is much slower to get started, but once they have been in about 2-3 years they are vigorous growers. They also prefer tilled in compost more so than the others. In our climate they may loose their leaves if we get colder than 5', but they will grow back in the spring. The shoots start out green and slowly turn black each season. It takes about three years for a shoot to turn completely black. I am going to add more compost around mine this spring and see how it does.

Update on my bamboo and how it has faired the winter.
It is Feb 15th and my two Green Panda clumping bamboos still look the same as they did in the summer, green and beautiful. There were several time they were completely burried in snow, but allas they popped through showing all their green leaves. One is planted on the north side of a house and the other is on the east side of a fence.

My black bamboo and beautiful bamboo I planted in a large open area have both turned golden. They both still have all of their leaves, they are just gold instead a green. Actually very pretty.

I took advantage of the warm weather and cleared all the wood chips away from the area so I could prep it to install the bamboo barrier and add another layer of compost. What I found is that the black bamboo in the few short growing months it had last year (planted in late June) has already shot runners out in every direction about 6 feet away. Very impressive. The beautiful bamboo seemed to do much better than the black bamboo last year. But now it seems the black bamboo was too busy working on spreading.

I will take pictures in June this year to compare the difference one year can make.

Hope you all are looking forward to spring, it will be here before you know it.

Glad to hear that they all are going good. Gives me more confidence to get my own.

btw if you need to get rid of some of those 6 foot runners I would be more than happy to give them a good home :)

I am close to SL and want a privacy screen (would 1' deep be too small), but not an invasive bamboo---as you are all experienced---any suggestions? THanks!

If I were planting for a privacy screen I would get a cold hardy clumping bamboo so you don't have to worry about spreading. There are many Fargesia bamboo's that would do the job. Only thing with all cold hardy clumping bamboo (that I have seen) is that they need a good amount of shade. Fargesia Rufa can handle some sun but it's best if they get afternoon shade. I am not sure what you are referring to with "1'". If you are referring to pot size or height, yes that would be fine, they will grow. If you are referring to distance from the fence I might give them about 2' from the fence and space them about 4' apart.

Groem, I'd be glad to once they fill in a bit. This is there second year and I have high hopes of them filling in a large area. ;)

I have a bunch of houses facing my backyard. There is no privacy. Last fall I planted 8 Thuja Green Giant evergreens who did not survive the winter. They are supposed to grow well here, quickly, and up to forty feet which would have been ideal. Well, so much for that 700 bucks.

I want to try Bamboo. I don't know what variety I should get. I am not trying to block for noise as much as for sight. I'd like them to get very tall and grow quickly. does anyone have any ideas for me?

Well I will just come back next year with high hopes :)

Groem I am hoping they make it to next year. A lot of leaf burn right now. My PH. Decora still has some green in some spots, but my PH. Negra is completely yellow.

Here are some photos of the bamboo barrier installation party and the end results:

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Glad to see others excited about bamboo it has been a long time since I started this thread. I still have a large collection and the plants are looking better every season. If you are interested in seeing pictures of my bamboo you can view them at.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/bamboo/pool/34219946@N04/
also anyone interested can find many knowledgeable people at
http://bambooweb.info/bb/index.php

For 2 years we've been trying to make our Yellow Groove Bamboo happy, but we're about to give up. Both Springs so far, almost all the leaves and canes (is that the right word?) have been brown and dead. The plants put out new canes and leaves as the weather warms up, but they don't grow any higher than about 3 feet, and they don't spread. They are planted at 5200-ft. altitude in the foothills outside of SLC, on the north side of the house. They get morning sun in the summer and the rest of the year, no sun at all. We get strong winds in this canyon; I wonder if that's the problem. We love bamboo and wanted the plants in this particular location to grow tall and provide screening, but perhaps we have to move the bamboo to a more protected, sunnier area?? Any advice would be appreciated.

Hello all... I live in the upper area of Cottonwood Heights and I'm guessing my Zone is 6, or maybe 5?? I want to plant a privacy screen between me and my neighbor to the south without blocking my view of the mountains visible above his roof line. After some research, I've decided on Fargesia, either 'Rufa' or 'Robusta'. I prefer the look and uprightness of Robusta but am worried it will eventually grow too tall and block the mountain view. My question is: Can one "trim" bamboo to control its height without destroying the overall effect?

I would recommend the rufa over the robusta as it is much hardier for our zone. I have had a rufa in the ground for 5 years and this year it is going to get about 6.5 feet tall this was from a 1 gallon pot. Anyhow the height of the rufa is dependent on how much sun it gets. The shadier the location the taller they get. As for the Yellow groove bamboo two post above this one sometimes it takes a few years for bamboo to establish and start gaining size and vigor. As the plant gets larger its hardiness will increase.

Hi, Has anyone tried to grow bamboo out in Herriman? The soil is pretty dry and rocky out here. I want to create a screen. I was just recently at Dancing Cranes imports and noticed their great wall of bamboo out front. What kind of species should I be looking at? Also is this going to be a waist of investment? Please help a beginner gardener.
Thanks.

I live 6-7 miles southwest of Logan, in the bottom of Cache Valley. Fargesia has done wonderfully well at my place. Other varieties die back in our cold climate, but my fargesia stays evergreen throughout the winter months.

I live in Orem and would like to plant some bamboo that I could harvest for poles that are approximately 7' high and 3" in diameter, depending on the flex.

I know I am way late to this post, but I live in northern Utah and I love bamboo and I am going to attempt this green thumb thing . can anyone recommend any and where to buy it?? oh and maybe some tips too!!! thank you!!!

Glover Nursery had quite a few plants to choose from. Both Yellow Groove and Bissetii, as well as Fargesia Rufa and another Fargesia variety.

We bought a Rufa and a Bissetii. The Rufa is about 18" tall and wide, and the Bissetii is about 8' tall.

Hoping that I can baby both enough to get them through this hot summer.

I just received shipment of 3 varieties of bamboo to plant in the Japanese Garden I am setting up in my back yard.

Black Bamboo
Japanese Timber Bamboo
Punting Pole Bamboo

We'll see how it goes.

Having read most posts it appears the yellow groove is very popular. What about the black bamboo?