What to do with my (landlord's!) bamboo...

Hello, I am a complete gardening novice. I've never had my own garden before but the rental home we have moved into has a flower bed on a raised wall at the end of the garden.

There are about six beautiful bamboo plants spaced out in the garden but they've suddenly got really really tall and feathery. They are beginning to bend over into next door's garden! So my question is, do I just cut them to the height I want them or it is something more complex? Thank you!

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner OM,
it would help us to give correct advice if you could post a photo of them. There are so many different types of bamboo - or similar plants, so now isn't a good time to prune them.
Jenny namaste

 

Hi - hopefully these will help.

 

Thanks for piccies. It's bamboo alright - totally wrong for the planter and limited space too. It would survive a haircut but it would be prudent to discuss the problem with the Landlord first,
Jenny

 

Looks fine to me and growing into a nice specimen. Let your neighbour cut off anything that is overhanging the fence and annoying them (or ask them if it is bothering them and cut it off for them).

Bamboo produces new shoots once each year, they grow like a "pole" and then the leaves appear. They won't grow taller, but instead next year more fresh shoots will appear (as the plant matures the newly produced shoots may get taller, year-on-year.

Or flog the plant on eBay - usually people want decent sized bamboo plants - and replace it with a new plant instead.

 

Bamboo do better in open ground but this one seems to be ok.

Is your neighbour complaining about the branches over the fence?
If not, maybe just leave be.

Otherwise there are 2 options.

Option 1:
You could loosely tie the the culms together, pully the one flopping over the fence into a more upright position

Option 2:
You could trim off the few branches/twigs off that are on the wrond side of the fence. Try cut off as few as possible.