Also known as Stipa tenuissima. Before I gave up on this grass as being WAY too invasive (it reseeds everywhere), I did cut mine back once a year. If you don't, the winter rains will turn all those pretty, feathery seed heads into an ugly, matted mess. It's pretty easy to cut; I just grabbed the whole clump like a hank of hair, twisted it a little into a tight 'ponytail,' and snipped through it with my trusy Felcos. It doesn't really matter exactly when you cut it - you can't kill this thing. Cutting it back also reduces the amount of reseeding somewhat, although you need to do it fairly early in the season if that's your goal.

I cut mine back only to let the new, green growth come through. Since the rains make it look matted anyway, as Patrick mentioned, I just wait for the first forecast of rain before I cut mine back.

Brenda

I simply yank the whole thing out once i see new babies around it. Then I remove most of them and leave a couple. Much easier that way. You can even move the new babies into the old location if the wind has blown it too far. And in a few months, you got a new big plant.

I find that they look best between 1-3 years of age. After that I remove them because their base is getting too large and they aren't filling out as well after being whacked to the ground. I allow the ever present volunteers to replace the ones I remove.

This stuff is a horrible pest in my area, do not plant it in California