It is hard to grow, as it is semi-parasitic on certain grasses. I have never been able to get it to transplant successfully.

Ditto. I had a whole 'Prairie in a pot' with Indian paintbrush and several other plants for it to parasitize, and it just disappeared after a couple of seasons. Its' hemiparasitic nature is a relatively new discovery, so there isn't a lot of information about which plants it prefers to parasitize, so maybe I didn't have the right ones - although, from what I've read, it isn't supposed to be very picky about what plants it parasitizes. It can technically live on its own because, having green leaves, it can photosynthesize. But it is more robust with a host. I suggest getting the seeds as opposed to the plant, and make sure the soil you plant it in is poor in nutrients. Lupines make a good host, and bind nitrogen to the soil, which might give the paintbrush a chlorophyll boost. The DNR is trying to reestablish paintbrush on a pimpled prairie near here (Mima Mounds State Park). They get plants from a little old lady who grows them in her back yard and they plant them all over the park. Each individual plant has an ID tag, and its location is marked on a map with the help of a GPS. The plants are monitored very closely. All I can say is, if the DNR is having so much trouble growing them, do not be discouraged if you try and fail, or have little success.

They like to grow among grasses in moist ditches up in the mountains, and when the neatniks mow the sides of the road, they gradually disappear. (Plantbug, M. collected seeds a couple of years ago.)

When they are young they are very weedy looking, so you have to be careful not to pull them out. Guess that is my excuse for a no-weed area near the lake where I put some seeds. Unfortunately, we just had so much rain that many of the established plants went bye-bye or were covered by soil from up stream erosion.

That's Mother Nature for you!