I live in Zone 6, near St. Louis. My aunt and uncle live out west of St. Louis in kind of the foothills of the Ozarks, on a small mountain/big hill. If you're familiar at all with the area, they're near the ski resort (yes, there's a ski resort in MISSOURI...hahaha, mostly blown snow). The area is forested and through their woods, someone built this horrible mansion - the color of Pepto Bismol. It's hideous, and they hated their tranquility being disrupted by chalky pink. So they hired a landscaper to come in and do what they could to block that view and one of the things the landscaper did was fill that side with a fast-growing running bamboo. The landscaper did a pretty good job, actually, and the pink is slowly fading.
I've always loved bamboo, so a year ago I was over and we dug up a bucket full. It was two plants I guess, and I planted them. Just dug a hole, added a little compost, and planted. My neighbor looked at them a few weeks later and said "Well, those are dead, aren't they?" (She's a bit blunt at times) All winter long I watched and hoped.
And then in spring, it started sending up little shoots that looked kind of like asparagus. Now my "those are dead" bamboos are gorgeous! Thick and full and about 4 feet tall. It's more like a bush.
What I'm trying to do is put a natural fence between myself and the neighbor, plus just grow bamboo because it's delightful. But...my aunt and uncle had no idea of the kind of bamboo this was. I've searched and searched pictures, and I just can't tell. One minute I think it's a Phylosomething and then last night I decided it was Japonica. But I'm still not quite sure. Some of them look alike to me, but I'm sure that's my inexperience. I only know it's a running bamboo. I'd like to know what kind so I can read up on it and know how to care for it, and perhaps how to train it to do what I want.
So here are a couple of pictures...sorry the second one is turned sideways. I don't know why.
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