If you are sure that you have bamboo, then there is really nothing that will take over and overcome the bamboo.

Your best bet is to remove it completely before planting something else. You dig it completely up which is very time consuming and hard work, or you can cut it all 'completely' to the ground and continuously cut new growth as it appears immediately. This will eventually use up all of the plants stored energy and it will die.

There are other ideas for bamboo removal, and someone might post their experiences here, but this is what I've done before and with great results and I don't like to use chemicals if I can avoid it.

Kt

I will also add that trying to use chemicals to take out bamboo will not do anything much other than to damage other plants/grass, and make it difficult to grow other things in your yard. Bamboo is a great plant when maintained. Although I understand that its not your fault, this situation is a classic example of why it gets a bad reputation. If it were me, I'd physically remove it from the areas I don't want it growing in, but leave some part as a privacy hedge. Then I would put in a physical barrier, or practice rhizome pruning to keep it under control.

Thnaks for your responses!