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On the weekend I was asked about the hardiness of Fargesia robusta 'Green Screen' for Nova Scotia - Z6a to Z5. Many likely know this one as F. robusta 'Pingwu'. I told them both this F. robusta, F. robusta 'Wenchuan'' and F. robusta 'Wolong' are apt to be killed in a normal Nova Scotia winter even on the milder Atlantic coast. The various bamboo forums seem to agree that these larger-leafed forms are decidedly more tender than the hardier Fargesia robusta 'Campbell' and even 'Campbell' itself is on the very edge of hardiness in our mildest Z7b. When temperatures approach -15c (+5F) in Z7b we have seen tip-kill on the top foot and a decided lack of viogour the next spring.

Bamboo Garden rates all robustas at 0F which I say is far too generous.
Canada's Bamboo World rates selected robustas; at 18c (-.4F), again out of line, and "F. robusta" at an insane -23c (-9F)
Ian Connor rates 'Wenchuan' & 'Wolong' at -18c (0F) & F. robusta 'Campbell at -10F (-24c) - worse than above
Victoria Bamboo rates F. robusta at -18c, off the mark
Kimmei - at least gives a more accurate range of -15c to -18c but is overly optimistic re: 'Campbell', see their catalogue excerpt below

The only northern spot on the east coast I can recall was dependable's F. robusta on Martha's Vineyard and it did not fare so well in 2016. Is anyone having luck with any of the robustas north of say Virginia or Philadelphia? And what appears to be their temperature limit south of those spots?

john

As you stated, my F robustas got killed to ground around 0 degrees F.

I had/have two, one "green screen" that was a almost 12'x12' plant, in full sun. What is left of it is a couple divisions I planted out of the way to recover, they are very slowly coming back.

The other one was just F robusta, with no stated variety, in a more sheltered location. It was around 90% top killed over the course of a couple 0F temp events. It is still alive too, making slow recovery.