I've got one thats on its third year down on the hell strip, a nice 'exclamation mark' on the end by the driveway. Its really gotten thick and big in diameter this year with lots of blooms and stands up very erect even through the unusual heavy rains we've had this August. I'm going to be taking photos when the other grasses start forming more fluffy seeds with late afternoon sun. Around here grasses have gotten too tall and lodging is a problem especially with the Little Bluestem. I'm seeing it all over the city. Bummer. One of the prettiest, most colorful red Switchgrass specimens I've ever seen a couple blocks away from me is splayed out in every direction and dragging in the street. Sad, because its never done that before. My Big Bluestem are still standing tall, thank goodness and so are the Split Beard Bluestem's (Andropogon ternarius).

Tex -The exclamation point outline it makes is partly, maybe mostly, what attracted me to this handsome cultivar. I hope I’ll be able to maintain that slim look. On the other of my two plants I noticed one of the rhizomes was on the longer side with the new shoot coming up over an inch away from the main clump. Other new blade shoots seem to be arising out of shorter rhizomes making a tighter clump. I’m hoping that one longer rhizome was a rare exception, otherwise the clump will widen pretty quickly.

This second plant has quite a few lax blades. I assume that might be what you are calling lodging. Lodging is a new term with me, as well as a new experience. It is very much atypical of any of my other grasses. My husband has been watering the several grasses in the driveway this year and I thought perhaps an excess of water pressure on the grass blades might have weakened them and that was the cause of the laxity. It pretty much ruins the look of this second specimen and sounds much like the LBS you describe.

Linda - Good luck finding this plant. I bought it from High Country Gardens and they are currently out of stock. Santa Rosa Gardens lists it as discontinued. I hope you will find other sources.

Found a really interesting back story on Thin Man here THIN MAN

The article talks about its patenting after discovery in a field of the cultivar ‘Llano’ and how it was separated out immediately because of its distinctively different appearance.

I'll have to check my local nurseries. They have a huge selection of OG's as they have become very popular around here.

Ecolane--Mine was about the size of yours last year but is easily as wide as that pot at the base this year. The roots will quickly fill your pot just like Miscanthus or fountain grasses do and become severely root bound. My experience hasn't been good whenever I've done the instant gratification thing and bought root bound grasses in gallon or larger pots that have girdled roots along the edges, the plants seem to refuse to establish and after a whole season I've dug them up to find the 'pot' just came out of the ground looking like it did when I planted it. I only buy the 4" starter sizes from SRG because they out-pace a larger gallon plant bought locally which is usually root bound.

Unlike Miscanthus or Fountain Grass, Indian Grass has that prairie survival mechanism in its genes telling it to put down roots that grow several feet into the ground.

Mine has sent up some growth from underground rhizomes a few inches from the main plant but its in a spot where it has plenty of room to spread, in fact I want it to. At the History Museum there is a magnificent specimen of Indian Grass that is about 4 feet in diameter at the base and it is gorgeous. The plant is very vertical and straight with tightly packed leaves and dozens of dense bloom stems.

I am planning to start a new clump by digging up a few of those rhizomes around the plant because I found it doesn't come true from seed.

Linda, this was a special selection listed as an exclusive only available at High Country Gardens. They carried it for a couple years but not last year although its still listed as currently unavailable . I haven't seen it anywhere else online. You might put in a request for it on their website.

I pulled up the chart. Indian Grass roots grow to be 9 feet long.

The info on its roots is amazing! Though not necessarily good news for me. I love the Pennesetums, my favorite being the slightly smaller Hameln. Like Miscanthus, it puts down relatively deep roots which make it a real challenge to divide. At my age I don’t welcome this sort of challenge.

So glad you mentioned how quickly it expanded in its third year for you. That means I’ll have to get it out of that pot and find a permanent spot for it. That won’t be easy!

In spring of 2017 I bought just one plant from High Country Gardens. It was so tiny they sent two. Even so, each plant was a mere two or three grass blades. Mine barely grew that first year. I attributed its slowness to a less than ideal site in my garden but perhaps it’s just slow to get established. If that’s true, it would make it a poor choice for commerce. Just speculating, but maybe that’s why HCG didn’t have it in stock this year.