One of the hardiest bamboos with dark green culms and evergreen foliage. One of our smaller Phyllostachys, usually growing only a little over 20 feet tall in our climate. Two bamboo growers though have claimed to have plants growing to 45 feet tall under ideal conditions. For us it remains a smaller bamboo. This bamboo can form an extremely dense canopy, scarcely admitting any light to the ground. P. bissetii is a great option for growing in containers because it tends to be smaller and is extremely cold hardy. It makes a great privacy screen when grown in the ground, even in USDA Zone 5. The first picture is a large grove of P. bissetii growing at the USDA research station in Georgia.