Bamboo is very beautiful but it has an
    ugly reputation. It can be terribly invasive if not confined.
    But it is worth the efforts for control to have this unique plant
    in the garden.

    
There are two type of bamboo, clumping
    and running. Clumping bamboo spreads a few inches a year, so
    needs no confinement. Running bamboo can send out underground
    shoots five feet or more in the Pacific Northwest in a year,
    so in a decade, it can cover quite an area. Two of the most common
    forms of bamboo, black and golden, are runners.

     


    Small bamboos can be grown in pots to confine
    them, but larger ones need some kind of barrier. A heavy guage
    mylar, 24 to 30 inches wide, works best. The barrier redirects
    rather than stops the bamboo shoots, so it should lean slightly
    outward and extending a couple of inches above ground. The shoots
    then turn upward and break the surface, where they can be trimmed
    off each year. (Bamboo has been known to tunnel under a four-foot
    barrier when deflected down.) Mylar barrier is available at many
    bamboo nurseries.