Hello, I'm new (to bamboo and this site) so thanks in advance for your patience. Over the last 2.5 years I have been planting 3 different varieties of bamboo. I have a verigated, and two other types that are all clumping varieties that were specifically hand chosen by a professional landscape architect for this location and climate. Unfortunately I don't remember the names and I can't find this person anymore. I think maybe I had a black variety and a more standard variety also.

We lost a couple last year when we had a very dry and cold winter. We got a couple new ones and they are all doing pretty well this year in terms of new growth. However, this is what happens - they spike new shoots out of the ground and grow straight up for a month or so then begin to unwrap and leaves show. They typically reach at least 6ft high before unwrapping. My concern is about what happens next. They tend to stay pretty thin and droop over. Some almost laying on the ground. Some of these smaller pieces that lay all the way over seem to stop growing and sometimes I even cut them off as they are in the way or look bad. (We have a tight little urban garden). I have taken to tying the larger culms back to the fence to keep the place looking decent. What gives? Is this normal? Will they grow up to be big, strong bamboos? I remember reading on the tags when I got them that they would grow to be 25-35ft high. My goal is to have them grow much like the asian gardens I saw at Balboa Park in San Diego. They have bamboo plants that are 2-5 inches in diameter at the base and easily 30ft tall. However, they have thinned the grove so the culms are 1-3 ft apart. Very cool look.

I was also told that I would just need to cut back unwanted sprouts once a year to control growth and once cut, the same sprout would not come back that year. Is this true?