Kay, I'm in zone 8 also but in the NW so this may not help you (TX has a very different climate than WA)... but I didn't cut back my stipa at all. They were really pleasant all winter, very graceful in the breezes. Some leaves turned yellow but not very many... So far I've only combed them lightly with my fingers. Lucy, that's not a dumb question, and I suppose it's possible some people do use a wide-tooth comb. For really large and coarse grasses I've used a rake. But for a lot of them, I just use my fingers. Wear gloves if you do that with coarser grasses so you don't slice your fingers! (not a problem with stipa). I had many new ones come up from seed so I've been moving some of those around. As for hakone, the first year I had it I didn't cut it back at all and because we had a mild winter, it stayed green (well, not green, but you know what I mean) :) all winter. This past winter the cold caused a lot of die-back. I didn't cut them back until very early spring (Feb.). In colder zones the die-back is a given but in warmer ones I think it's worth waiting.

Hakone is a beautiful grass but very slow growing. I bought some a couple of years ago, and divided them to get more plants. Big mistake. The divisions are barely larger now than when I bought them. It does well in the shade, however, which is unusual for grasses. The Miscanthus varieties you listed are very different in size, form and growth than Hakone. They will grow much faster and taller than Hakone, but won't tolerate as much shade. I have several Miscanthus varieties, and "Adagio" has grown very well for me in semi-shaded locations -- it thrives, actually, and quickly reaches a nice size (2x2'). Another very nice grass that grows well in the shade is River Oats, Chasmanthium latifolium. It has more of an upright habit than Hakone and is much taller. Leaves are very pretty and almost bamboo-like in appearance. This is one of my favorite ornamental grasses, and it is quick to establish. It can reseed, heavily, however, so you need to either remove the seedheads in the fall or be prepared to do a lot of weeding next spring.

I have Hakone All Gold in a couple of spots. Both were planted in spots shaded by trees which later had to come down due to storm damage - the trees were poorly structured and wet snow caused splits that removed major chunks. In 6 hours or so of sun it looks great in spring, but then sunburns in early summer and has tan tops the rest of the season. I really need to move the clump pictured below to a shadier spot; the other clump has a tree rapidly filling in to the west that I think will provide enough shade in a year or two. I think 3-4 hours of morning sun is probably about ideal at my latitude (43.35) and growing conditions, since it develops nice color but doesn't burn. In too little sun it's still a lovely plant but has much more green than gold. Here's a photo of one that gets sun from about 9-3 and you can see the tan scorched leaves. This photo is from mid-July in a year that had good rainfall so it wasn't due to dryness.

Thank you for all your lovely comments. The combination Hakonechloa and Hosta is perfect, but I have potted up almost all my hosta's because of the slugs and snails. Luckily Hakonechloa isn't on their menu. Yes, there is quite a difference in growingspeed and in size between the cultivars. The fastest grower and the largest plant is 'Albo-striata', but it is also not as beautiful as the rest. It is a bit of a sloppy grower, shoots al over the place and not a neat, dense clump. 'Naomi' is like a smaller 'Aureola', but also fast growing. The all green H. macra is an excellent plant, very upright growing. 'Nicolas' is also all green, but a little smaller with better colour in fall. 'Beni Kaze', 'Greenhills' (a small all green) and 'Sunny Delight' (multicoloured) haven't been here for more than 2 seasons.