My two "Jack Frosts" are up...not fully, but they are getting there. The miscanthus is a warm season grass, so it will be slow to grow in the spring. The ground needs to be warmed up first. Don't give up on either one yet...patience is a virtue when we are waiting for our plants to wake up in the spring. LOL.

Hi PoodleGirl ! Did you get anyone to take these off your hands yet? If not, when you are just about to give up and toss or compost - let me know so I can stop by and save them...! We still have lots of space to fill, but wanted to make sure everyone else gets a shot at these.. Jerry

Since spring starts officially next week, I'd say your timing is excellent :-) When I was in hort school, the instructor for the class on OG's drilled into us that cutting back of pretty much any OG can/should be done "late February/early March". I've cut back my miscanthus (and most other deciduous grasses) as low as I could easily - usually around 4-6 inches. Leaving it higher is optional. It does nothing to benefit the plant nor does cutting it lower detract from the plant. And it will not affect blooming - that is a factor of daylength and heat. Often, warm season grasses in cooler climates do not receive sufficient heat to develop flowerheads/plumes before frost cuts them back - this is very common with late blooming selections like Miscanthus 'Gracillimus'. Even in my zone 8 climate this is not a reliable bloomer because we have very mild summers. There are other selection of miscanthus that bloom earlier - you might want to seek them out.

I have a related question about the Miscanthus grasses beginning growth late. I have some 'Silberfeder' grasses that haven't even sarted showing green growth at all. Are they normally very late? Only 2 of them have some green at the outer edges. This is their first year coming back, and they were planted last May. All the other Miscanthus grasses are growing well. My 'Autumn Red' Flame grasses are about 10 inches high now and pretty thick. The 'Huron Sunrise' and 'Blue Wonder' are growing as well.