Spreading bamboo can move freely from one garden to another, so it requires maintenance. You might consider clumping bamboos instead; they increase in diameter only a few inches per year, making them not only more drought tolerant but very low maintenance as well. Avoid using submerged pots, bathtubs, bins, underground concrete walls, sheets of metal, fiberglass. They all fail for various reasons. Concrete driveways, even double driveways, asphalt paths, and lawns do not stop spreading bamboos. Onlygravel driveways that are very dry in the growing season and are driven over regularly act as an effective barrier. Knocking down rogue shoots popping up in shrubbery or lawns merely removes the evidence of the bamboo, but the rhizome (underground stem)remains. So, it your bamboo has gotten out of control, all of the rhizomes will have to be removed back to the desired limit. Herbicide is very ineffective against running bamboo, and it is more dangerous to wildlife and to people than is the bamboo! Clearly, effective maintenance rather than neglect is the only viable strategy for this beautiful, if roguish, grass. A well-tended bamboo can require less time than maintaining roses (generally less thorny too!)
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