Miscanthus sunlit

gjautos

I have purchased a couple of these to go in my garden. They arrived approximately 20cm high and in a smallish pot. Bigger pot than a standard 9cm, but still small. I had assumed they would from fairly large fairly quickly. But the note that came with them describes them as initially slow to grow. Does anyone have any experience of this grass? What does initially slow mean? Would i be best leaving them in a pot until next year? 

Dovefromabove

@Hostafan1 has lots of grasses .... maybe he knows this one ?

KeenOnGreen

We don’t have that variety but our Miscanthus is one of our slowest growing grasses.  At the moment ours is only a few inches high.  They flower in late Summer so you will see more growth over the next few months.

I find that they do need regular watering, otherwise ours really takes ages to get going, and isn't that lush.  We have had ours for many years, and although I have divided it once, it's still not a massive clump.  Over the same period, other grasses have clumped up at a much faster rate, and we now have lots of them.

We don't mind that, you don't always want every plant to romp away, as they end up congested, or you end up with too many of them.  You should however divide your Miscanthus every few years, as they usually die off in the centre of the plant, and division will help to invigorate them.

Loxley

I have a Miscanthus 'Malepartus' that I bought in a 1L pot for a fiver, about four years ago. It was only the end of last year I would say it reached what I would call a 'mature size' with more than one or two flowers etc. I would grow it as a pot initially as it could get swamped in a border initially, or you could grow it near the front of the border where you can keep an eye on it, until it's large enough to be moved towards the back.

Hostafan1

I have various miscanthus, but not "sunlit" 
Some romp away quickly  eg Malepartus as @Loxley says, but some like M. nepalensis are much slower.

Loxley

I don't think I would buy a small Miscanthus again, it makes more sense to go for at least a 3L, a decent specimen you have actually seen, and then you can place it properly in the border straight away.

Hostafan1

I've grown M Transparent  and M Karl Foerster from seed and had them flower in year 2.

Loxley

Just to clarify for the OP, those are varieties of Molinia, not Miscanthus.

Do you find your Molinia a bit slow into leaf in spring, Hosta? Mine are barely shooting, whereas Miscanthus 'Malepartus' has decent shoots, and Calamagrostis is clumping up nicely.

KeenOnGreen

Our Calamagrostis K. Foerster grow quickly in Spring, they are already 1-2ft tall, and they'll be throwing up the flower panicles soon.  We divide them every 2 years, and have a really decent amount of them now.

Our Molinia's were always very slow to grow and flower, and we had to give them lots of water (they were in pots), we gave up on them.  

I agree with @Loxley Our Miscanthus is Ferner Osten, which is a dwarf variety.  If I had to choose again I'd go for M. Malepartus, it has much more height and drama in the border, or another taller variety.

gjautos

Thanks everyone. I think I'll stick them in pots and see what happens. 

Hostafan1

Loxley said:

Just to clarify for the OP, those are varieties of Molinia, not Miscanthus.

Do you find your Molinia a bit slow into leaf in spring, Hosta? Mine are barely shooting, whereas Miscanthus 'Malepartus' has decent shoots, and Calamagrostis is clumping up nicely.

OOPS .Sorry about confusion. My fault entirely.
I have a Miscanthus which I brought from my last garden. The foliage gets to almost 2m tall , but it's never flowered.
All my molinia are V slow this year. I guess they hate this rubbish cold weather as much as I do.