We are passionate about bamboo’s usefulness and sheer beauty in hot dry summer climates; as we find here in zone 9. Bamboo provides remarkable protection from heat and the direct sun; beautifully. Many bamboos absolutely thrive in the full sun of zone 9, providing cooling shade, privacy screening, stature and elegance. Plant bamboo for its knockout looks, or as a bird sanctuary, the Golden & White crowned sparrows (they migrate through the Central Valley around October) ADORE bamboo habitat! There are an infinite number of amazing bamboo garden projects you can create. The same zone 9 sun and summer heat that produces some of the best grapes, almonds, and olives in the world, grows incredibly beautiful and useful bamboos!
** 
** Let us please humbly get one thing straight right away. Bamboo has been “feared” for too long; and it is completely unnecessary to “fear” this remarkable grass. It is remarkably simple to keep many bamboos “contained” and easily managed, one simple way is by planting a CLUMPING variety. A “clumper” bamboo is no different than a tree or shrub, in that it can be planted without fear of it spreading beyond its assigned territory. Tales of a “neighbors bamboo running amok and swallowing their children whole” run rampant even in well educated gardening circles. Indeed, some bamboo species called “running bamboo,” can spread quickly and send underground roots far away from the parent plant, frustrating homeowners and unwitting gardeners alike. Often bamboo is described as an “invasive species,” but it’s not actually capable of taking over the world. Clumping bamboo varieties like Oldhamii behave as any tree or shrub, growing modestly from its base. The first Oldhamii we planted in zone 9 was just three culms (approx. a foot wide) at planting, twelve years later it majestically towers 40 feet, but occupies just three feet wide of space. Once you replace the fear of bamboo with understanding, you will learn bamboo’s remarkable beauty and usefulness need not be feared at all. Full stop.
For more detail on the differences (and usefulness) of runners versus clumpers for your garden:
“clumping bamboo” and “running bamboo” facts – University of Florida
“Bamboo shades and cools while you bask in the aspen-like rustling of its verdant leaves.”
Despite what you may encounter when you tell people you live in the Central Valley, please counter with “Yes it does get hot in summer, but it is SPECTACULAR in winter; and that same summer heat grows the greatest amount of phenomenal food the world has ever known.”
Heat tolerant bamboos thrive in zone 9; as do vegetables, fruit trees, herbs, flowering shrubs, tomatoes, peppers, onions, nuts, the list is nearly endless…
“Bamboos absolutely thrive in summer heat with mild winters, adding a flourish of greenery, stature, and elegance throughout scorching summers.”
Bamboo for shade
Bamboo can be grown for shade almost faster than you can build a shady roof. With recorded growth of nearly 4 feet in 24 hours, we’re only partially jesting here. Bamboo planted in zone 9 as a shade screen, can deliver astonishingly gorgeous (“magical” we might add) shading and cooling in Guinness World record time. read more about using bamboo for shading and cooling…
Bamboo for Hot Dry Climates
Many bamboo varieties thrive in our hot dry Mediterranean climate of zone 9. Two heat tolerant bamboo varieties that quickly come to mind are Phyllostachys Vivax and the giant timber bamboo Oldhamii. Bambusa Oldhamii (aka Oldham’s bamboo) is the most common and widely grown bamboo in the United States, and has been introduced into cultivation all around the world. Phyllostachys Vivax thrives in heat. Here are bamboos that thrive in heat…
Bamboo for privacy
Bamboo for privacy screening is not only remarkably effective, it is a spectacularly beautiful way to control your privacy. The dense foliar growth of bamboo in zone 9, means you and a pair of loppers are all the tools necessary to create a fantastically specific privacy screen. Both the views from within and beyond your bamboo screen can be customized. Want to see out but block the neighboring views, here’s how…
Uses of Bamboo
Bamboo may be the greatest single plant in the world for “preppers” and gardeners alike. Bamboo fencing, bamboo screens, bamboo as food, bamboo splints, bamboo floors, bamboo sheets, bamboo clothing, bamboo housing; the list of bamboo uses is literally endless. Here are some noteworthy uses of bamboo you may not be aware of…