Timely post! I just blogged about my favorite miscanthus this morning. They are looking great right now.

I've not tried dig/divide/move miscanthus in the fall, but I'd like to keep track of your experience. I love the ones in my garden, but I do need to divide and conquer for next year.

Thanks,
Cameron

Here is a link that might be useful: my miscanthus

We moved into this house five years ago. I have an acre and a half. I probably have 18 to 20 clumps of Miscanthus in my landscape. When I saw that they were $18 for a three gallon plant, I decided to take chances. I bought ONE pot. All through the first year, I dug it up once a month, cut it into fourths with a pruning saw and replanted it. I had all I needed by late fall. I didn't lose so much as one blade. And they bloomed too. By year two, they were all full size. I did work some manure into each hole. Do take note that I live in zone 7B. Still, grasses are virtually indestructable.

donna,
you're in mississippi?? i tell you, i have never heard of anything as remarkable as what you just posted about dividing your misc every month. i daresay we could NOT do that up herein Boston area; just don't have the HOT sunny climate you do.
but still, now that i have such an abundance of grasses, next year i will riff on your technique and report the results on GW .Thank you for your inspiration. An astounding story, really!!
best,
mindy

I'd LIKE to dig up my miscanthus "giganteus"! I mean, just to divide it in half. It's just enormous and I can't penetrate its root system even when I jump on the spade. Hope hubby can do it this fall. Our clump is about 12' tall.

Timely post. I wanted to know this myself because I was thinking about slicing off some Calamagrostis brachytricha from a mature clump to introduce into another bed.

This observations is for zone 4/5 gardners. Up until winter of 2007/2008 I never successfully overwintered miscanthus cultivars either in in pots or that were divided and re-planted in the fall. The only success I had was last winter when I over wintered 4 miscanthus, 2 fargesia bamboo plus other assorted plants in my basement escape window well. Everything survived beautifully. (We have no children and use our basememnt only for storage so this was not a fire trap). My suggestion for northern gardners who want to transplant grasses in fall is do it ASAP, mulch with shredded leaves and cover the crown with a big pot weighted down with stones or brick. Using this method I have overwintered tender plants like snapdragons.

felisa, I find your post surprising. There are several large, fast-spreading clumps of miscanthus here on my campus in zone 4a. They are really quite the spreader, I cant believe anyone would be having trouble overwintering this thing as it is not touched except to mow it down in the spring. I think you guys just need to locate a hardier stock.

I took pictures last year of the clump, see. {{gwi:192486}}
{{gwi:192485}}

I cant believe anyone would need to dig them up to overwinter them! Have you tried the straight species?

i think you misunderstood her. she's successfully growing miscanthus. what she has had trouble with is what i asked my questions about- the success of TRANSPLANTING grasses in the fall.she has added that if the grass is in a pot, it has only survived if she brought it in.

so you're in z 4a. have you successfully overwintered IN THE GROUND fall grasses that were divided and transplanted IN THE FALL??
best,
mindy

OOh... drat... thats the second time in two posts I made a mistake. Dang I feel like a jerk, heh.

the man who makes no mistakes doesn't usually make much of anything.
best,
mindy

vtandrea, get a small ax. I once had a heck of a time with a hameln and the nice folks at GW steered me to the right tool for the job. I use it on a lot of things now.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hameln tougher than my pruning saw

I use cordless B&D HedgeHog trimmers on grasses.

to DIG UP AND DIVIDE? or to cut back?
mindy