There are plenty of kinds of bamboo that grow just fine in your garden in the UK and they are widely sold. You can get them from many garden centres, but it is usually better to go to a bamboo specialist such as junglegiants.co.uk, panglobalplants.com, uk-bamboos.co.uk, or hardybamboo.com. You will have a much better idea of what you are really buying, and are less likely to be ripped off. Though if you know what you rae doing you can find bargains elsewhere.

Bamboos are usually propagated vegetatively, not from seeds, as bamboos rarely flower. Unfortunately this makes bamboo plants bought from nurseries fairly expensive in most cases.

If you are growing them in order to harvest shoots to eat, these specialists will advise you of suitable varieties (only a few are suitable, and not usually the ones you find in ordinary garden centres), and suitable growing techniques - in this case you will have to fertlise and water them a lot to get plenty of thick shoots to harvest.