Cliff,

I buried a 5 gal bucket with papyrus in it thinking it would be contained. It busted this bucket in no time. I then sank a large heavy black nusery pot around it and it busted through that also.

I have no idea of a fabric would hold bamboo in check or not.

good luck though.

Any idea if that rhizomes barrier fabric that Home Depot sells works???

Golden Hawaiian Bamboo gets to be 50' tall. Not something you can grow for long in a container! It is a clumping Bamboo, but still needs room. On the Bamboo Forum they talk about how some running Bamboo will break through concrete barriers!

I've never tried Heliconias in the ground, but I've seen how they can spread, in other folk's gardens. So mine are all in pots. They do overflow the pots rapidly, with rhizomes popping out over the sides and out the drain holes.
Do some varieties spead less than others? I only have 2 varieties, and they grow so fast they they need to be chopped apart at least once a year.

Lisa

I saw a show on HGTV once where they were planting what would be a large section of giant bamboo, and you wouldn't believe what they were doing to keep it in bounds! It was almost as complicated as building a swimming pool, I swear! They used the same fabric that they use for the pools at the toxic waste dumping facilities. They said that was the only way to keep it in bounds. I think they said the fabric is like over $100 a yard, and that was years ago.

You can always buy one of those huge concrete containers to grow the bamboo. I have heliconia rostrata and I haven't found it very invasive at all. Yes, it spreads, but not by leaps and bounds.