+90% likely to be moving from 7A to 5B - advise appreciated

[oZmonKey]

I am most likely moving from my 7a northern Virgina home in the next couple months to somewhere in the Boulder/Longmont 5b Colorado neighborhood area.
I have invested quite a bit of $$ and time into my current collection of bamboo, and fully intend to take at least some of it with me.

None of my boos have been in-ground more than 3.5 years.
Snow is on the ground again, & I haven't seen any shooting activity yet this year.

Should I attempt to pot up my cold-hardy selections before they start shooting, or wait until after they've spent that energy? I'll probably have until at least the end of the 2012-2013 school year.

Then on the other end, I don't know what property situation I'll end up in yet, so I'm thinking about keeping my transplants potted for 1-2 years, or planting in raised beds.
I'm figuring Rubro, Spectabilis, Incense, and Harbin Inversa are hardy enough for Colorado. I'm not certain that my kwang survived this winter but it's on my list.

So anyway I'm looking for any advice timing / potting / Colorado / selections. Thanks.


My plant list:
Arundinaria Funghomii
Chimonobambusa tumidissinoda
Hibanobambusa tranquillans 'Shiroshima'
Phyllostachys atrovaginata
Phyllostachys aurea 'Flavescens-inversa'
Phyllostachys aurea 'Koi'
Phyllostachys aureosulcata
Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Aureocaulis'
Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Harbin Inversa'
Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Spectabilis'
Phyllostachys dulcis
Phyllostachys glauca 'Yunzhu'
Phyllostachys kwangsiensis
Phyllostachys nigra
Phyllostachys nigra 'Henon'
Phyllostachys nigra 'Megurochiku'
Phyllostachys nuda
Phyllostachys parvifolia
Phyllostachys rubromarginata
Phyllostachys viridis 'Robert Young'
Phyllostachys vivax 'Aureocaulis'
Phyllostachys vivax 'Huangwenzhu'
Phyllostachys vivax 'Huangwenzhu Inversa'
Semiarundinaria fastuosa
Sinobambusa tootsik 'Albostriata'

[stevelau1911]

Unless you are concerned about leaving some nice groves for the people who are moving in, I would definitely suggest getting huge pots, and getting your bamboos stuffed into them before they shoot. Zone 5b should be warm enough for many of your bamboos to hold some green on most winters once they get established.

[needmore]

Personally, I think you'll get tired of having them in pots for 2 years unless you can easily address the overwintering thing. Indoors they will flounder I think so you really should look at a hoophouse. Among the cold hardy'ish species on your list it doesn't seem like you really have anything rare to try to drag across the country and keep happy in pots long-term, would you consider re-sourcing down the road when you can get them in the ground again, I suspect you'll be $$ ahead in the long run? In any case you can check out the Denver Zoo website I believe to see species & sizes they have there. The glauca 'Yunzhu' would be an option, and probably the parvifolia and the Sasaella for sure.

But if you go ahead and dig I'd do it b4 shooting. If you wanna drop em off here on your way west I will hold them and send them later if you wanna deal with the shipping aspects when the time comes, you could check out a zone 5b/6 collection and see what works though Colorado will be a very different 5b.

[Iowaboo]

Well that sucks from a bamboo perspective. Here was a topic about Denver zoo bamboo
http://www.bambooweb.info/bb/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2181

[jd.]

Should I attempt to pot up my cold-hardy selections before they start shooting, or wait until after they've spent that energy? I'll probably have until at least the end of the 2012-2013 school year.

Definitely pot up some plants before shooting starts.

I'm figuring Rubro, Spectabilis, Incense, and Harbin Inversa are hardy enough for Colorado. I'm not certain that my kwang survived this winter but it's on my list.

That's a favorable list of plants to try. I'll also second the glauca 'yunzhu' and the parvifolia that Brad mentioned. The nuda too may stand a chance.

You didn't include it on your list, but Ph. mannii 'decora' endures winter better than most Phyllostachys bamboos and has a reputation for tolerating some drier conditions found out west.

[oZmonKey]

I potted up 8 plants this weekend, and found shoots on 6 of them. Hope I haven't stressed them too much.
I dug 2 spectabilis (shooting), 2 rubro, 1 harbin inversa (shooting), a parvifolia stump i've been watching (now with a 2 foot "tail" with buds), 1 nuda, and 1 astovaginata.

I might grab the yunzhu too, thanks for the suggestion.

[oZmonKey]

Response from the Denver Zoo:

None of our bamboo will reach the height and width that you have experienced in Virginia. If you take a third off the description of height for most bamboo species, you will have a more accurate number of what to expect. The diameter of the culms are generally in the ½ to 1 inch range.

These Phyllosstachys species have all done well for us for several years:

P.aureosulcata, P. glauca, P.purpurata “Straight Stem” and “Long Stem”, and P. rubromarginata

More recently installed and has overwintered the last two years:

P. heteroclada ‘Solidstem’
P. heteroclada
P. flexuosa
P. glauca ‘Not So’
P. aureosulcata ‘Spectabilis’

[oZmonKey]

Well, I'm fairly certain all my Colorado planted bamboo is dead.
Part of me expects possible shoots come May, but most of me expects that the sub -20°F events over the course of the winter here to have killed it all.
Only one of my previous bamboos to be rated down to -20 was Nuda, and I didn't bring her with.

[pokenei]

I don't think a young nuda is any hardier than the others.

Not sure what the situation is over in Colorado, but I have much more snow than I bargain for this Winter. That much insulation should keep some bamboo rhizomes alive. I am hoping culms and leaves also make it through, but...it's hard to say. My small windmill palm which I covered with a cardboard box is completely top killed - possibly the end of it. (It did quite well last year though using the same method).
I would be surprised also if any Musa basjoo can make it through this Winter in zones 5 and 6 unless it's in a green house.

[jd.]

Small divisions planted in exposed soil suffer the greatest risk from the first winter.

Larger Phyllostachys divisions buried under a deep layer of mulch or snow during the winter still have a good chance of emerging in the spring. Some of the recovery growth may be puny the first year, but all hope is not yet lost.

Years ago the parvifolia bamboos here recovered after a winter down to -28°F (-33°C) after they were planted the summer before.