I tried from my collected seed and not a sprout.I do see packs in the seed racks though. I cut mine back last year,brought the pot into the basement(dark) only watered maybe 3 or 4 times all winter and it started to grow when I brought it out in early Spring.It is doing well right now.

The jury's still out on the hardiness of Prince and Princess. Growers are conservatively listing as zone 8, but this will likely change with time. It is at least 1 zone hardier than Rubrum and feedback shows it to likely be 2 zones hardier...that would place it as a solid zone 8, possible zone 7, perhaps hardier. It does work well as a replacement for rubrum, which is not a reliable zone 8, particularly when a burgundy color is desired in a cooler southeast zone...and no, it's not the burgundy perennial grass the northeast has been after. It also can be a replacement for hard to get phormiums of the same color.

THat grass needs massive amounts of light and heat to grow fast (and it will). Not sure what you mean by w/s?? If you can purchase some early in the season and plant them near a sunny hot rock wall or repot them in a larger pot and place them in the hottest sunniest part of your garden. Get it growing strong then move it where you want it and it will get pretty darn big by the end of the season. I would not fertilize them as they will get kind of floppy. I grow this grass almost every year as an annual and wouldn't be without it in the garden. What I have next to my Caryopteris W G is a Cotinus/ purple smoke bush that I coppice every year. I get a lot of strong vertical dark burgandy growth that way. It is not as delicate as the grass but the color is fantastic and the plant is hardy. A grass you might try is Panicum virgatum 'Shenandoah'. Check it out on the Plants Delight website. They have a nice photo. Don't expect it to look like the pennisetum, it's different but nice.

In general, grasses need to be divided near the beginning of their growing seasons. For warm season grasses, this is after winter, and when the soil starts to get into the 60-70 F range. This is true no matter where you live. Even California has periods of cooler weather and soil temperatures. Warm season grasses need a good bit of time to establish themselves before cooler weather forces them into dormancy. Cool season grasses have (at least) two distinct growing seasons each year, and can be divided at the beginning of either, with no ill effects. In my coastal climate, I frequently have better luck dividing cool season grasses in the fall. They have a very long time to establish before having to deal with adverse weather. Spring divided grasses have only a couple of months before hot summer weather forces them into dormancy.