Bamboo anyone?

I've acquired a bamboo plant. It was given to me. The thing is, I don't know what sort of bamboo it is and if it is suitable for indoor growing. Does anyone know anything about bamboo? Here's what it looks like.

Brace yourself, for a "Leo Book Length Essay", I apologize, read it in chunks. Short answer: Phyllostachys aurea - Golden Bamboo. Scroll on for the gory details.

Nice, first a little terminology, what used to be called a cane, the more accurate term is culm. Culms normally are hollow, and at the nodes, an internal partition seals this hollow (septum). Nodes are the points where branches come off the culm. They are ridged, or have a ridge, marking the location of the partition or septum. Different species will have a single ridge, or double ridges marking the node. Internode is the distance between the nodes, where branches come off the culm. There are various hairs on leaves and stems, which are used to narrow down to species. The American Bamboo Society has an excellent website, browse thru it, and you can possibly get to exact species. I'll try to get you to genus and species. You do have a true bamboo, not some grass. Check internet images of the species I suggest, and see if you agree.

Feel the culm, is there a single groove that runs the length of the internode, usually alternating between sides of culm after each node? If yes then the genus is Phyllostachys. No, it could be a number of genera. The congested pattern of the nodes at the base of your largest culms suggest a few candidate species. So we'll go from these markers. ( for those playing a long at home, this is my thought process )

Culms grooves present = Phyllostachys genus, - Phyllostachys usually has 2 unequal size branches at a node in addition, the culm groove is present. The long running rhizome also suggests genus Phyllostachys. All Phyllostachys have a running habit. New culms can be as much as a meter away from the previous if planted in the ground. Never plant it ''loose'' in the ground, if it is happy in your climate it will become wildly invasive. Always install a rhizome barrier before planting in the ground. Many of the Phyllostachys are fairly winter hardy. Some will tolerate extreme cold. I have 3 species of Phyllostachys growing in outdoor beds, that receive no winter protection, and they survive my Chicago winters just fine. (low temperatures of -35 C or -20 F are not unusual here). They are fast growing, a planting of Phyllostachys will show mature behavior in as little as 5 years, they have good visual impact and are my favorite group of bamboos for being easy to grow. Not the easiest to keep happy in flower pots, but if given a 3 meter by 3 meter space in the ground (with proper barriers) they will grow to full height for the species in as little as 5 years. In 3 years you can get half or more of mature size. And virtually all Phyllostachys are good to eat. Bamboo shoots, delicious, especially dug fresh, blanched then either steamed or stir fried.

The more I look at your photo, the more I am confident it is a Phyllostachys, and I'm pretty certain it is one specific species.

The congested irregularly spaced nodes at the base of the largest culms suggest that the most likely candidate is Phyllostachys aurea, Golden Bamboo, which is actually plain green. Culms as they age turn a lighter yellowish green in full sun, in full sun locations, the culms eventually mature to a clear yellow their third or fourth year. In shade they will remain green. This is a cold hardy running bamboo. Foliage should stay evergreen in winter, well below freezing. Foliage damage should not be serious to about -10 C or +5 F, In weather colder than these temperatures, the bamboo will ''Top Kill'', but the rhizomes 15 cm or 6 inches or more, under the soil should be able to sprout in spring to temperatures of -16 C or +0 F. Maximum height in a mild climate would be about 8 or 9 meters, roughly 27 feet. In climates where growing seasons are shorter than 150 days, maximum height will be lower. If this bamboo has been indoors or in a greenhouse, do not expose it suddenly to extreme cold, it needs a month or two to adapt. They are native to a large area of China, parts are fairly subtropical, you should be able to winter indoors for the remaining winter, put it outdoors in spring. If your winters are warmer than -10 C, or above +5F, you could grow it in an outdoor bed, top dress the bed with 15 cm of leaf mulch before winter and let it get buried by snow, it should be fine. In an above ground container it will not be as hardy. If you grow it in a container, leave it outdoors until it has had a few frosts, then winter it in a cool sunny window, or winter in a cold spot where you would winter deciduous or pine bonsai. If temperatures are below +4C, and above 0C that would be perfect for cold storage. Below 4 C they do not need light, even though they have leaves. But they don't need as much cold in winter as a maple tree would need. You can run it indoors, in a bright window, in a cool house. Less than 18C would be fine, closer you get to +4C the more vigorous your spring flush of new shoots will be. Wintered warm the flush of growth is more staggered, less synchronous, but it still grows reasonably well.

No culm groove = these are 2 candidates.
Pseudosasa
japonica 'Tsutsumiana' - usually only one branch at a node, no culm groove, culm feels round. Running habit, swollen at base of internode, like a "Buddha Belly", a variant of Japanese Arrow Bamboo. Your photo shows irregular internode lengths, normally Pseudosasa japonica has a very uniform internode length. Probably not what you have, but included the name for you to check images, just in case. This is a temperate to sub-tropical bamboo, winter hardiness is similar to Phyllostachys area, maybe a little less hardy, but over all pretty similar. Tends to be shorter, less than 7 meters, often less than 4 meters.


Bambusa
vulgaris 'Wamin' - Bambusa has no culm groove, internode feels round. At the nodes will have many branches, especially on culms over a year old. One or three of the branches will be significantly larger than the rest. This bamboo tends to have a clumping habit, new rhizome will not run for any distance. (a few inches or centimeters, not feet or meters). The species form is a true tropical timber bamboo, capable of reaching 15 meters or so, but the cultivar 'Wamin' is a dwarf form, normally topping out at 3 meters. I do not think this is the bamboo you have, I did not see enough branches at the nodes, and the running rhizome really looks like a Phyllostachys rhizome.

part 2 of the book


Bamboo as Kusamono or Sanyasou - bamboo grown in a pot, to be enjoyed either accompanied by bonsai, kusamono, or displayed for appreciation alone, as the display focal point, Sanyasou. You can allow the bamboo to grow naturally, when it gets too tall you can nip, or prune off the growing tip at the final height you want for the culm. Once the culm tip is cut, that culm will never get any taller. A single culm may live 5 to 10 years, each year it will add another level of ramification to its branching, but it will get no taller. When you have many culms in a pot you can remove excess culms, or unattractive culms. Culms over 4 years old tend to get ratty and dishevelled. You may also remove lower branches, to expose more of the culm. Bamboo requires grooming at least once or twice a year to keep it attractive. While they are evergreen, leaves live only 12 to 18 months, In spring or early summer, older leaves will yellow and fall off, often just after the flush of new spring leaves has occurred. This is normal.

Bamboo as bonsai - John Naka in his book Bonsai Techniques II - he has a few pages on bamboo as bonsai. I have tried most of the techniques he lists, and they do work. You must be able to work the planting daily during the time the new shoots are emerging, if you miss a day, the effect may not be uniform. Think of bonsai bamboo as a connected root forest. Start with planting a healthy rhizome division in a large tray, at least 10 cm in depth and at least 75 cm in length & 20 cm in width. Bigger is better, I like using large round pots, because the arrangement of culms will change yearly, and be completely different every 5 years or so, and the front will keep changing. Let the bamboo establish for a couple years, when the bamboo has more than 10 culms, you can begin "bonsai training". Select which culms you keep as if each were a tree in a forest. You can let the culms reach their natural heights, or you can follow the technique that Naka outlines in his book and literally control the internode length to really complete the image of a giant bamboo in miniature. Much as one would wire a tree into a pot to keep it stable, wire the rhizome into the pot. The tall culms catch the wind, and when in a shallow pot, the bamboo can get blown out of the pot.

General culture tips -
Generally bamboo like a fairly high organic content media, as one would use for deciduous bonsai, like maples (Acer), beech (Fagus), and hornbeam (Carpinus). Bamboo suffer if allowed to dry out, media should go from wet to lightly damp to wet again. They do not like to stand in water. Most bamboo want at least a half day of sun, many prefer full sun, Phyllostachys love full sun, but do okay in half sun. They suffer if the mineral content of the irrigation water is high and alkaline, water over 800 ppm as Calcium Carbonate is the upper limit, beyond which some signs of excess minerals will show. They are heavy feeders, provide at least as much fertilizer as you would for a fruiting tree. Feed heavily in late summer, to prepare the rhizomes for the spring growth period. I feed mine year round except in the coldest of weather. In a bonsai pot, or a nursery pot, repot every 2 or 3 years, sooner if the pot becomes root bound, let it go longer if you have not had many new culms. When you repot, untangle the rhizomes, prune out excess, propagation can be done by potting up pieces of rhizome removed.

Now you know much of what I know about growing bamboo. Hope this helps, photos below are of a 2 summers in a pot planting of bamboo. Not the same species as yours. This pot is just about ready to start ''bonsai techniques'', except someone offered me money and I sold it. Got some more recent projects in progress, but can't find the images. Most of my bamboo is in outdoor growing beds, I really don't grow much in pots if I can help it.

Leo in N E Illinois said:

Brace yourself, for a "Leo Book Length Essay"

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I am going to enjoy reading this Leo, but it might take a while before I finish it .... so I'd like to thank you now.

Leo in N E Illinois said:

The congested irregularly spaced nodes at the base of the largest culms suggest that the most likely candidate is Phyllostachys aurea

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Jeeze Leo you do go on...in a good way. Seeing the crumpled nodes did remind me of Phyllostachys aurea, golden or fishing pole baboo but not quite. Wamin (lumpy noodle) that I'm familliar with swells at the base like Buddha Belly but is much larger in diameter. I found out the hard way that the base doesn't swell at high altitude.
Are you a member of ABS? I was, in the beginning, when we Northern Californians were bamboo crazy. Plant hunters trekking to the ends of the earth for new rare species. And dolling out great sums at auctions at Strybing Arboretum in Golden Gate Park for a pot or tub of say, Himalayan blue. As much as any one of them I still like the view out the door of Otatea acuminata aztecorum. (or maybe I just like to say the name) The long leaved variety of Mexican Weeping Bamboo which went to seed long ago around the world. Sorry for the bold type. It happens when I cut and paste. I'll come back when I have more time. Here's a stand we call "Hirosi" because it grew in front of an old now gone nursery on Hilo. It shaded the new large rain shelter from morning sun and the south porch in winter where it can be 80F at 8AM and 50F in the house. Guess where I am? In the all-together. S orry to see it go though.

Leo in N E Illinois said:

You can let the culms reach their natural heights, or you can follow the technique that Naka outlines in his book and literally control the internode length to really complete the image of a giant bamboo in miniature.

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Which is a very precise surgical procedure and why I've never seen a convincing bamboo grove bonsai.

Think Nigel Saunders has a youtube vid on this....

Leo in N E Illinois said:

Brace yourself, for a "Leo Book Length Essay ......

Click to expand...

Excellent! I enjoyed every word of it. I’ll take a "Leo Book Length Essay" any day of the week!

I was lucky you saw my question. It didn’t look like anyone was going to respond so I decided to put the same question elsewhere. Well, you must have been writing your reply at the same moment, because just when I was finished submitting it at another place and pushed the send button … your reply popped up! I thought, "Cripes, that was quick!"

Your assessment is almost certainly correct: >>>

1). single groove that runs the length of the internode. YES

2). grooves alternating between sides of culm after each node. YES

3). 2 unequal size branches at a node …. YES

4). …. of which the culm groove is present. YES

>>> Phyllostachys.

I hope it will survive indoors because that’s where I need it, for 2 reasons. My indoor palm needs a friend (palm & bamboo together? …. Nice!) and I have no place for it outside anyway. My bonsai have taken up all the outdoor space that I have.

Ps. I am going to take your advice and have a look at the American Bamboo Society website, just for the fun of it.


Thank you very much!

Franz 'Nebari'

BunjaeKorea said:

Think Nigel Saunders has a youtube vid on this....

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... and Miko mentions it:

@Nebari - I watched the Miko video, that is the way you stop a bamboo shoot from getting taller, but that is not John Naka's technique for compressing the length of internodes. Use the technique in the Miko video for the time being. In a couple years, when you have a forest tray planting established, you can try the Naka technique, as Bruce said, it is surgical, and requires daily attention to get the timing just right. I tried it, killed one of the culms outright, had the second die later in the summer. I think part of the problem was my planting was not well established. It does work, I will do a write up one of these days, after I successfully get a whole planting done using the technique. Basically it involves removing culm sheath leaves before the culm has hardened off. Problem is culms will be tender then, and they get damaged easily, you end up having to stake the sulm upright to keep it straight. On thin culms it is nearly impossible as it is delicate work.

Nebari said:

Excellent! I enjoyed every word of it. I’ll take a "Leo Book Length Essay" any day of the week!

I was lucky you saw my question. It didn’t look like anyone was going to respond so I decided to put the same question elsewhere. Well, you must have been writing your reply at the same moment, because just when I was finished submitting it at another place and pushed the send button … your reply popped up! I thought, "Cripes, that was quick!"

Your assessment is almost certainly correct: >>>

1). single groove that runs the length of the internode. YES

2). grooves alternating between sides of culm after each node. YES

3). 2 unequal size branches at a node …. YES

4). …. of which the culm groove is present. YES

>>> Phyllostachys.

I hope it will survive indoors because that’s where I need it, for 2 reasons. My indoor palm needs a friend (palm & bamboo together? …. Nice!) and I have no place for it outside anyway. My bonsai have taken up all the outdoor space that I have.

Ps. I am going to take your advice and have a look at the American Bamboo Society website, just for the fun of it.


Thank you very much!

Franz 'Nebari'

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Hey Franz, Great to know about the grooves, I wasn't sure they were there from the photo. Of the Phyllostachys, Phyllostachys aurea is the only one commonly that has the congested nodes at the base of the culms, and normal nodes higher up in the culm. You can take the name to the bank so to speak.

I hope you have enough room in your bonsai garden to summer this bamboo outdoors, it is a difficult species to do indoors 100% of the year. They really want full sun, or at least a half day of direct sun. Indoors, the glass cuts out at least 30 - 40% of the light, so indoors at best is only half sun. In addition, they do like a cool down in autumn and a semi-dormant period. Like I said, they don't need it as cold as maples or hornbeam, but they do want a cool rest in winter. Being in Sweden, I assume your climate is too cold and growing season is to short to really use it outdoors all year round.

A sub-tropical bamboo, that you should keep an eye out for is Chimonobambusa marmorea - Marbled bamboo - it is a shade lover, wants at most a half day of sun. It is a small bamboo, even in the ground does not exceed 3 meters. It is a leptomorph, meaning it is not a runner, more a loose clumping bamboo, easier to keep in a pot. The culms are a mottled green and brown their first year, slowly darkening to a dark purple brown, very much like Black Bamboo, but it doesn't need the sun that black bamboo requires. Keep an eye out for it, pick one up if you can.

@Shima - Hi Bruce,
Damn, your taste in plants really does echo mine, we tend to be into many of the same groups. Bamboo too. I love Otatea, I had an O. a. aztecorum for 5 years or so, but sadly it is not winter hardy here, and it did not like winters in the light garden with the orchids. I know what I did wrong, but my Phragmipedium kovachii have reserved the brightest spots in the light garden, and I love them more than Otatea. Your planting is beautiful. After flowering it disappeared from the catalogs, recently I've seen a few offering seedling stock, I may pick up another one someday.

I love your garden photo, and the tall bamboo is outstanding, If I had to guess, is it a Chusquea? The weeping Otatea does look like a green waterfall. Too bad the very thin leaf version is gone.

Bamboo more than most groups of plants induced a serious case of climate zone envy. I love many of the sub-tropical and tropical bamboos. Very few of the bamboos are good under lights candidates, though Chimonobambusa marmorea and Bambusa multiplex 'Fernleaf Stripestem' are doing well indoors. The others I've tried indoors have not performed well. So I resign myself to ones I can grow out in the ground, year round. Luckily the color forms of Phyllostachys aureosulcata (yellow Groove) are quite nice. My favorite is P. a. 'Aureocaulis', and I want to pick up 'Llama Temple', I also love 'Harbin Inversa', the beauty of the aureosulcata forms is that -20 F does little more than knock down the previous culms, by summer the grove is back at its normal 12 to 18 foot height. Our summer is too short to get more than 18 foot, but that is fine. My largest bed of Yellow Groove is the normal green color, with the dull yellow in the culm groove, this bed provides me shoots for the dinner table, at least twice a week during the month long shooting season. It is tasty and the 'bite' it has is pleasant.

Phyllostachys atrovaginata - Incense Bamboo - this one is proving very winter hardy, and its shoots are really delicious, better than any of the others I've tasted. I can't wait until my planting of this one gets big enough to harvest regularly. Right now it is too small.

I never joined ABS, but I have used their website a lot during my phase of actively collecting bamboo. It is another world of crazy fanatics, and the horror I got when I mentioned actually eating my bamboo was surprising. (bamboo Web chat forum) Actually, the seasoned old timers, who were fighting to keep plantings confined to their beds thought that was rational, it is the newbies that were nurturing their little 3 culm plantings that were horrified. Funny how your attitude shifts when you have to patrol your property line to stop escapees. And apologize to the neighbors on a regular basis. Never plant a Phyllostachys in the ground, loose. Never. I know the hard way.

Corny song:


Seriously, to me bamboo belongs more either to accent planting or "ikebana" than to bonsai.

To me, an isolated bamboo shoot would be just below topiary.

Bamboo, to me, is only convincing as at least a grove.

You must hear the wind through the canes. Quite a challenge....

Onibaba: watch (and listen) from 0:33

Leo in N E Illinois said:

Hey Franz, Great to know about the grooves, I wasn't sure they were there from the photo. Of the Phyllostachys, Phyllostachys aurea is the only one commonly that has the congested nodes at the base of the culms, and normal nodes higher up in the culm. You can take the name to the bank so to speak.

I hope you have enough room in your bonsai garden to summer this bamboo outdoors, it is a difficult species to do indoors 100% of the year. They really want full sun, or at least a half day of direct sun. Indoors, the glass cuts out at least 30 - 40% of the light, so indoors at best is only half sun. In addition, they do like a cool down in autumn and a semi-dormant period. Like I said, they don't need it as cold as maples or hornbeam, but they do want a cool rest in winter. Being in Sweden, I assume your climate is too cold and growing season is to short to really use it outdoors all year round.

A sub-tropical bamboo, that you should keep an eye out for is Chimonobambusa marmorea - Marbled bamboo - it is a shade lover, wants at most a half day of sun. It is a small bamboo, even in the ground does not exceed 3 meters. It is a leptomorph, meaning it is not a runner, more a loose clumping bamboo, easier to keep in a pot. The culms are a mottled green and brown their first year, slowly darkening to a dark purple brown, very much like Black Bamboo, but it doesn't need the sun that black bamboo requires. Keep an eye out for it, pick one up if you can.

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As far as I can tell, the culms sport double nodes all the way up the length. There are also a few single and even triple nodes. I am confident (all the way to the bank) that it is a Phyllostachy in any case.

I might find some room on the floor outside for part of the summer but things are really chok-a-blok as it is without finding place for a curiosity plant. I’ll have to try balancing it the best that I can. If it becomes too much of a chore I’ll just give it to you. And if a Chimonobambusa marmorea comes my way I might take it on!

Leo in N E Illinois said:

taste

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I knew you would kill this!

I didn't read, but is the recipe in the "book"?

Nice!

Sorce

sorce said:

I knew you would kill this!

I didn't read, but is the recipe in the "book"?

Nice!

Sorce

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Ask your Chinese or Vietnamese neighbor. They have the best recipes.

Harvest a couple dozen shoots, much like one would do for asparagus. If soil is not like concrete, dig a bit below grade to get the whole shoot. The younger (shorter) the shoot, the more tender it will be. Fat shoots are better eating. So the best shoots would be the ones that would have given you the tallest culms.

Starting at the base, peel off the sheath leaves, you might need a knife to assist, I usually just use my fingers. The tip of the shoot will be woody, discard that. It the shoot was harvest after the ideal time, the base (oldest part) might have gotten fibrous, cut off the tough at the base and the tip.

Wash in cold water if any soil is stuck on the shoots.

You can eat them raw. If they have no ''bite'', there is no problem eating them raw.

Easy, great way to prepare mild tasting Phyllostachys, Use a vegetable steamer, put a slice of lemon rind in the water (or a slice of a whole lemon), steam the shoots for about 10 minutes and serve.

Or - chop to bite size pieces and toss in with the stir fry of your choice as one of the stir fry vegetables. Put it into the wok or fry pan the same time you would add broccoli or carrots, early enough it has some time to cook.

P. aurea, aureosulcata, atrovaginata, nuda, and dulcis all have sweet shoots with little or no ''bite''. no need to par boil. Fine to eat raw. P. atrovaginata has the best tasting & sweetest shoots in my opinion. The others are not bad.

Some bamboos, actually most bamboo, have more of a bite to their flavor. Especially if it is a regular part of your diet, the bamboo should be par boiled or blanched to remove the chemical that gives it a bite. Moso, the giant timber bamboo, that is a major food crop in Asia is always boiled for 20 or 30 minutes, the water is changed, then boiled again for another 20 minutes, then added to what ever dish it was going to be used in. For Moso (Phyllostachys edulis), the shoots harvest are huge compared to P. aurea, each shoot can be more than half a pound. Moso does not grow well in colder climates, you will only see larger stands south of Memphis, central and coastal Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana are the areas it grows best. It does not grow well in a container of any sort. But because of the large size of the shoot, the boiling time is longer. Little shoots cook quickly, and blanch or par boil quickly if you are eliminating the bite.

Black bamboo, and its varieties all have a moderate bite to them, boiling with a change of water is best. (Phyllostachys nigra).

Shoots fresh from the ground


One shoot, sheaths peeled off, empty sheaths above the shoot



top - intact shoot
middle - sheaths from bottom shoot
bottom - peeled shoot cut in half, note the chambers, classic for bamboo. If you get any stringy fibers when you bite through, that part is too old.


Enjoy, it is a taste delight.

I planted a bed, 32 feet (10 meters) by 30 inches (about 75 cm) - I only planted one division, a single rhizome piece, maybe 2 feet long, with only one culm with leaves on it. First couple years the bamboo was only 3 feet tall. It took 5 years, and the bed had bamboo from one end to the other, and culms averaged 6 to 9 feet tall (2 to 3 meters). By 10 years the bed was so dense that I began thinning it out by harvesting shoots for food in spring. Culms were averaging 12 to 18 feet (4 to 6 meters). It has settled down, now at 30 years, the culm size is still in the 12 to 18 foot range. Escaping rhizomes, that sneak past my barriers, become shoot donors for food, and I harvest a portion of the shoots in the bed too. I can take 3 to 5 pounds of shoots a year, several meals worth, every year and the planting seems none the worse for it.

Culms for plant stakes can be harvested at any time, any size. Culms harvested for wood for furniture and construction are most durable if they are about 4 to 6 years old. Then the lignin content is as high as it will get.

Culms over 6 years old tend to look ratty and dishevelled. They should be removed when ''grooming'' the grove. Somewhere between 6 and 10 years old a culm will be ''exhausted'' and will die off usually over the winter, and just stop sending out leaves. In a tray planting for bonsai, you need to plan on replacing old culms regularly. Best to plan a 5 year cycle.

In my area, 2 out of 5 winters I will get ''top kill'', the culms will get killed to the ground. Don't remove the dead culms right away, leave the dead standing until about 4 weeks after new shoots stop appearing. Reason is, the dead culms support the new shoots and keep them vertical. If you remove the dead culms in early spring before new shoots, the new shoots will arch over, giving a weeping effect. This is fine if you like the look, but they will harden off that way, and never straighten up. So I go thru the planting in late June or sometime in July, and remove all the dead culms, after new shoots have hardened off in the vertical position. Remove the dense slender grassy culms, and thin it out. I try to leave at least a foot between culms. Then the grove will look more attractive. You can remove lower branches from tall culms if you want to expose the culms, for that ''bamboo grove'' look. Just cut the branches flush to the culm.

In a winter that is severe, you may loose the leaves, but frequently a culm will leaf out again if the winter was not too severe. So it takes until April or May before you know if a culm is dead, or if it will re-leaf out. P. aureosulcata will stay evergreen right through 0 F (-15 C). P. aurea will loose its leaves around + 15 F (- 8 C), P. aurea culms will die to the ground just a little colder than the +10 F, and the rhizomes might fail if the temps fall below 0 F. I have had good luck with P. aureosulcata, rhizomes pushed new culms after a winter of -25 F (-32 C). P. aureosulcata is one of the hardiest of bamboos, if rhizome hardiness is the measurement. I also have had Indocalmus latifolius leaves remain evergreen through -15 F but it was in a sheltered location out of wind and sun. So it ranks up there as very hardy. The shorter your growing season, the shorter the ultimate height of the bamboo. P. aureosulcata in my area maximum height is 18 to 20 feet. Down south, around Memphis, it can get to 30 to 35 feet. In its native range, 40 feet is not unusual.

Zone 5 bamboos, that will be rhizome hardy through a zone 5 winter - all Phyllostachys are edible, and have culm shoots big enough to be worth eating.
Phyllostachys aureosulcata, nuda, bissetii & atrovaginata - I have experience with these
recommended but not tested by me is P. propinqua 'Beijing', there are a couple others, but since I haven't tried them, I don't know.

Also rhizome hardy - but not good eating:
Indocalamus latifolius - used traditionally to make chop sticks.
Pleioblastus viridistriatus, & fortunei
Sasaella masamuneana albostriata & Sasaella ramosa

Once established, many of the Pleioblastus bamboos will kill to the ground in winter, but come back strong in spring. These are mostly dwarfs, under 6 feet tall, some only 8 inches tall, and many have very attractive variegation. Perfect for kusamono. When used as kusamono, while in a pot, give them winter protection at or above freezing.

AlainK said:

Corny song:

Seriously, to me bamboo belongs more either to accent planting or "ikebana" than to bonsai.

To me, an isolated bamboo shoot would be just below topiary.

Bamboo, to me, is only convincing as at least a grove.

You must hear the wind through the canes. Quite a challenge....

Onibaba: watch (and listen) from 0:33

Click to expand...

@AlainK
Hi Alain
The opening scene of the Japanese movie is great, I think they are moving through Pseudosasa japonica, or Japanese Arrow Bamboo, the leaves and height are about right for that one, though there are other species that would be good candidates. If it is Arrow Bamboo, it is the bamboo traditionally used to make the shafts of arrows. Bleak beginning, later I'll try to watch the whole thing. I hope there are english subtitles.

I agree that bamboo is best in the ground, and if possible, a bed that is large enough that it can spread out and develop a mature grove. It is definitely high maintenance, you can not plant it and forget it, or your neighbors will be on your case. A well groomed grove is exquisitely beautiful. A poorly maintained grove is shabby and dishevelled looking. I have very little bamboo in pots, most is in the ground. But I do want to create a nice bamboo planting for kusamono, or sanyasou. I have tried the culm sheath pulling technique to shorten internodes outlined in John Naka's book. It does work, it is possible to compress the distance between nodes on a culm, thus giving the illusion of a giant bamboo in miniature, but it is tricky, not easy to do. Just for the challenge, I am working to get a tray of bamboo established well enough that it will stand up to this technique. It would be fun to accomplish the feat. I have not got there yet, but maybe someday.

Letting a clump of a nice dwarf variegated bamboo do its natural extension to full height, in a pot is like Ikebana, I get it. Still, worth enjoying, even if most of the usual ways to grow bamboo really are not bonsai. As a kusamono, the dwarfs are pretty good.

Me!

I found a piece of root and planted it. No idea of the species but it is a true bamboo as I saw the bamboos from which the root came.

It doesn't look very good but it is growing. The sprout growing sideways on the lower right is growing quite fast.

Nice, looking good. The new culm will grow very fast, probably reach full height in less than a month.