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Which of the hardiest clumpers tend to have the most upright growth? Relatively thick, strong, and open culms would be a plus.
Based on forum discussions, I am considering:
-Jiuzhaigou 1
-Jiuzhaigou 2
-Jiuzhaigou 10
-Jiuzhaigou GenF
-Taibashan II
A lot of other good options are omitted because I would like them to stay green as far into the winter as possible (USDA zone 4b, sometimes 5). Will be planted about six feet out from the north side of a house to break up a blank wall. Want them upright to avoid excessive trimming to keep from rubbing the wall. Site has morning summer sun and no winter sun.

Any help is appreciated as I know many of you have experience with these.

I have no experience growing bamboo in zone 4, but I can tell you the jiuzhaigou I have is not that green looking through the winter, though it has always survived, with no culm death. I don't know which generation it is,, I think from around 15-17 years ago(it was advertised as new).

The clumpers I have here that have always stayed green with no culm death are F denudata, rufra and F apicircubens (formerly "dragon's head").

The jiuzhaigou kind of curls up like F nitida. Both survive well here, not sure how they would take hot summers in sun.

The coldest it has ever gotten here since I had bamboo was perhaps -10F, and that only for a very short time, but very windy.

Thanks for the suggestions. There are so many conflicting reports of hardiness on the mountain bamboos that make it hard to choose. In 22 years I have never had a bamboo without 100% winter top kill, so anything would be a plus. This winter has been our mildest in that time (but scared me with a brief -18 f yesterday morning). Haven't seen below -30 f for quite a few years now.

I tried some mountain bamboos back in the 90s but foolishly planted them in a spot with eastern exposure thinking "morning sun and in the shade for most of the day". They were toast before summer even got going. That east sun is intense from the moment the sun rises over the horizon. This time around they will have a north exposure and incredibly thick organic soil. And hopefully no high temperatures until they are settled in. I have a few different ones coming to see what can take it.

westfork wrote:Which of the hardiest clumpers tend to have the most upright growth? Relatively thick, strong, and open culms would be a plus.
Based on forum discussions, I am considering:
-Jiuzhaigou 1
-Jiuzhaigou 2
-Jiuzhaigou 10
-Jiuzhaigou GenF
-Taibashan II
A lot of other good options are omitted because I would like them to stay green as far into the winter as possible (USDA zone 4b, sometimes 5). Will be planted about six feet out from the north side of a house to break up a blank wall. Want them upright to avoid excessive trimming to keep from rubbing the wall. Site has morning summer sun and no winter sun.

Any help is appreciated as I know many of you have experience with these.

Hello, I have bamboo in zone 6, but I am in central Europe so we have here continental clima. Garden is near the mountains. All Jiuzhaigou clones you are mentioned above, had problems when temperature was below -22°C, (-7,61F). Lost leaves, thin branches and stems were frozen. The most hardy from them is Jiu 5 in this garden.

Taibashan 2 i am not sure, but i think will have troubles too. I have it there for a few years but we had warm winters in last years , so i can not check hardinnes of the new bamboos in the garden.

Only species which have chance to succeed in your conditions i think will be Fargesia nitida and maybe new hybrids like Viking, Black Pearl and other. In my garden these new plants grow upright with prunning one time a year.
F. murieliae i think you can try too, but is more sensitive to locality (humidity, temperatures) then nitida. Is very hardy here, but in very hot summers suffer.

F. denudata Lancaster, P. apicirubens fail during the winter. Often had damages coused by frost and are overhanging.

Maybe demissa Gerry will succeseed? Is not very green in the winter, but i realy like this plant.

But if you have winters -20 to -30°F i think there is very little chance to grow them without aboveground freezening.

Thanks for the input. Your earlier posts helped a lot in trying to find the ones that would work best. I would love to try demissa Gerry, but not at the current price over here. I did order a couple of new generation nitidas. Our climate has moderated a lot since I first tried bamboo - The winters are much warmer and the summers cooler. We haven't gotten over 100 degrees or below -26 f for several years now. This may be the first winter where our 22 year old phyllostachys dulcis kept some top growth. The culms are still deep green, but a few days ago we briefly got to -18 f. Stacked up about eight tons of manure and old cattle bedding to compost into some mulch for the bamboos. Can't wait until the ground starts to thaw so I can prepare for the new arrivals.

Not sure when this chart was made, but it breaks down a lot of the best Fargesia's and their winter hardiness, there's a few missing but gave me a good basis: http://www.kimmei.com/images/bamboe%20t ... engels.jpg