When we moved to this 3 acre property in Virginia (zone 7b), the previous owner had planted a TON of Miscanthus x sinensis (Chinese Silvergrass) maybe a year or two before. It is impressive how much all the clumps have grown. I love their beauty and their ability to make a ton of biomass, despite other people's distain of their invasiveness. The leaves I give to my meat rabbits in the winter (for nest material and food). They tend to not gobble it up in the warm months but after a few months of winter, they eagerly it. The stalks are thicker and harder to cut and my neighbor once got a piece embedded for months in this foot and had to have surgery to remove it. I cut the grass wearing gloves with a hand sickle and add to my compost piles 2-3 times a year. In the largest clumps, my nature school students often hide or play baby birds...it's super adorable.
