Clumping bamboo species will not spread and are generally low maintenance plants. Running bamboo species spread at different rates, some quite slowly. Other species can spread quickly if they get watered regularly but otherwise our dry summers will slow or weaken them if they aren’t irrigated. If fast growing, spreading bamboo species are planted in warm, irrigated locations some planning is necessary. Don’t plant them close to irrigated vegetable gardens, property lines, or shrub beds unless control methods are employed, such as bamboo barriers. Running bamboos produce spreading rhizomes which tend to grow towards moist, warm soil, and without barriers they can pop up some distance from the mother plant.

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