Hi, We traded in the spring. I would love to trade again. I sent you an email. Happy gardening.

Grass Guy, Man ... that question really challenged my memory! I have been trying to come up with the answer by looking at my garden pictures. Problem is my camera lost its 'date' function for the month of May. My records show that I made divisions of a sport that I have in trial in mid April and they were showing nice new shoots but nothing 'above ground'. I can say that all my panicums are just starting to show an inch or two of growth in early May and by mid June they are at least 2 feet tall. This first pic shows the height of the Panicums with respect to a few other grasses. Panicum Heavy Metal is along the high red fence and in the middle background is a Panicum Warrior and a row of Panicum 'Rehbraun' and in this pic you can see a Panicum 'Heavy Metal' close-up. Both pics were taken June 23 of this year.

Interesting query & comments about the 'best' red panicum. Obviously some of this will depend on your personal view of red. A lot of the new 'red' panicums on the market have a predominantly blue-green leaf early in the season. Many of these, including introductions from my garden (Blood Brothers & Samurai) turn a deep blood red /burgandy. Many of the older 'red' panicum cultivars have a predominantly green leaf early in the season and colour up to more of a cherry red . The only one of these that I'm growing was purchased under the cultivar name 'Rehbraun' Although it colours up later than Blood Brothers or Samurai, it has a rather nice 'bushy' form that makes a stronger colour statement from a distance (colour is similar to that found on Japanese Blood Grass).

It might help to approach it with a theme in mind. Cordyline is a tropical plant from Hawaii while switchgrass is a prairie plant and I can't see mixing prairie with tropical myself. Also consider your zone. Switchgrass grows native in the plains and grasslands much further north in the cooler part of the country and goes through seasonal changes which zone 9 South Texas doesn't have. If you want a grass I'd suggest a Texas native like Muhlenbergia dumosa or M. lindheimerii which will stay evergreen for you. You can grow much more exotic plants than you are suggesting. It might be a good idea to take a ride around where you live and search for plants that appeal to you and get a visual picture to work from when you find a combination you like. Consider some zone 8 or 9 plants, Mexican Red Bird of Paradise for example, would not grow further north and many of us would love to be in your zone where we could grow some of the fabulous plants from Mexico but it would grow well for you. Crepe Myrtle is a safe choice but they are over used, common work horse plants and I see them in just about every median and yard around here in Oklahoma. It definitely wouldn't be my choice if I moved to zone 9 when there are so many exotic plants to choose from. That is plenty of sun in zone 9 by the way, you can grow just about anything in an east exposure.