If you are looking for bamboo that you can utilize, there really isn't any clumpers for your area to try. The most useful species are in the Chinese Phyllostachys genus, and they also will tend to be the most aggressive and they do run, even in my climate.
If you live in southern Illinois, they'll remain evergreen in average winter, but in northern Illinois, probably die to the ground each winter, at least until it is established. Anything above the snowline has winterkilled for me every year. I've had bamboo for about 5 years and have around 35 species in the ground.
This is a photo of my Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Spectabilis' bamboo in late winter.
It was planted as a 1 gallon size back in '06, so has spread pretty good, and each year, its mass just gets bigger and bigger, so I figure I'll start feeling like I live in China with multiple species in the yard.
