Fargesia, Blue Fountain Bamboo, Hardy Blue Bamboo 'Great Wall'

I have one in my allotment for 2 years now. Last winter temperatures dropped down to -26C (-15F) on several nights. Continuous below free...Read Morezing temperatures lasted for one month. It got minor damage on some leaves.
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Make sure you plant it in shade. I didn't know it earlier and noticed that it got sun burns in late spring on leaves that were exposed to South. I moved it shade.
It lives happy there.
I live in Riga, Latvia Zona 6a, close to the border of Zone 5b.

Unlike most bamboos, which have earned a bad reputation for running aggressively, Fargesia species form clumps which expand only very slo...Read Morewly. No root barriers are required.

F. nitida is hardy and evergreen to Z5a, and performs best with protection from afternoon sun. It prefers light shade, and tolerates heavy shade. Fargesia do not perform well in hot summer climates like that of the southeastern US.

This is a wonderful species, both beautiful and well-behaved. A clump forms a graceful, weeping, fountainlike habit, with the outer culms bending outward under the weight of the foliage.

Bamboos are monocarpic---they die shortly after flowering. With bamboos, this happens only every hundred years or so, and somehow all members of a species all over the world tend to go to flower within a few years of each other. That happened with this species between 2002 and 2008.

Currently, growers are raising the new generation from seed and will be selecting cultivars as these seedlings show their distinctive qualities. This cultivar is one of the first of the new generation, and should be long-lived.

Some nurseries may still be selling the old cultivars, which originated a century ago and will be short-lived. Seedlings of the new generation should be good for another century. It pays to make sure you know which you are purchasing.