Is bamboo invasive/dangerous

I've just read a news story about a family who ended up with bamboo growing up inside the house from outside and up the cavity walls in the house. I knows it's more than likely very rare for anything like that to happen but we have a large bamboo bush in our garden. It gets trimmed height and sides once or twice a year. The pictures is after its been trimmed. It says to plant it in a large pot but it was already planted when we moved in. Can someone help me identify what bamboo it is please and if it is safe?

 

I'd guess it might be Phyllostachys aurea but I think there are a huge number of possibilities. If it was planted in the ground by someone aware of the tendency for bamboo to spread they could have installed a barrier to stop the rhizomes. You say "it says to plant it in a pot" which I don't understand. Are these instructions on a label on the bamboo in your garden? I've seen gardens with bamboo popping up in all sorts of places that look to be completely unplanned so the fact you have not seen any shoots already may mean there is indeed a proper barrier installed to contain it and it could be fine. There are also some types of bamboo that are said to be more clump forming and so are less likely to spread but I just don't trust them to stay contained myself and have avoided planting any.

Happy gardening!

 

It seems to branch new shoots like further forward towards the grass. I haven't seen any shoots anywhere else except in the large clump where it is. Is it worth me digging down and putting something in place and if I could put something to contain it what would be ideal? Its not exactly planted right next to the house. It seems to grow more up and want more height. The sides bush out in summer. Not more shoots grow its just the existing shoots grow more leaves on the sides so it spreads more if you know what I mean

 

It sounds well managed and that is most of the battle. I have multiple clumps of different 'boos in my garden, none of them have a root barrier....(I live life on the edge!)
Mid to late Spring I go round and snap off any shoots(culms) that are making a break for it. A further tidy up might occur if I detect a runner just below the surface. If I can't get the loppers onto it, an old tenon saw is very persuasive.
The Hampshire home I suspect might've had a damp problem, as bamboo does extremely well in a quest for moisture

 

There are typically two families of Bamboo:

1. Fargesia
Those will stay exactly where you planted them. Most will only gain a little mass like a tress does. They just get a little bit bigger.

2. Phyllostachys
Those are weeds from hell. Unless you contain them with a solid double rhizome barrier they will spread out like a wasps nest in a candy shop with little chance and lots of effort to get them back under control.

 

I had a Fargesia for about 13 years then it flowered and I took it out the next year, over the years it had formed a patch about 1m across. I also have a Phyllostachys niger; yes it spreads, but not rabidly. Anything going the wrong way gets chopped off, it's near a grass path and anything there gets mown off. Once a year I thin out the canes removing thin ones, dead ones and some of the older thicker ones (for garden canes). the leaves get removed to 4 to 5 ft up to expose the black stems. It gets some blood, fish and bone occasionally and some home made compost thrown on it. This last tends to make the cats , that like the soft dry culms that accumulate at the base, less comfortable until it gets covered over.

 

Do you write for the daily mail?
I have phyllostachys aurea, bissetti, spectabilis and aureosulcata, in the open ground WITHOUT root barrier. I have two types of pseudosasa and five types of fargesia, of which I'd say rufa is the biggest thug out of all of them.
Bi annual management keeps all of my bamboo exactly where I put them
It's better to categorize as
1/ Clumping
2/ Running