Imperata cylindrica can be invasive. It spreads by rhizomes, and, less frequently, by reseeding. In your zone, it would likely not reseed. It's easy to control it's spread, by using containers, hardscape barriers like sidewalks and driveways, or root pruning. One other problem is it's tendency to revert to green. Cut out green blades as soon as you identify them.

Damn it ~ if this grass would be invasive in my garden I would be happy. I have had several whimpy patches in my garden for years. Planted in all sorts of soils & sun exposures it just .... survives :o(
I have NEVER seen it flower or set seed in zone 5, certainly not the 'rubra' cultivar.

Is the red cultivar really invasive somewhere in the states???
A.

Not here! This is the slowest growing grass I have, even slower than Hakone grass.

It is also slow in my garden. Do not know why?

Blood Grass wants:

FULL SUN, RICH SOIL THAT DRAINS BUT THAT IS KEPT RELATIVELY WELL WATERED. give it this and it will be happy.

Have you ever had a brother, sister or cousin that was quite bad and folks thought you were too, simply because you were related? That's been the fate of Red Baron.

It has been lumped in with cogon grass as an invasive plant, but in fact Red Baron is rarely invasive and is actually quite easy to contain.

As for reversions, I've grown more Red Baron than I can count and had 0 reversions from divided stock. There were issues in the industry with a producer doing TC work with Red Baron and the results did have reversion problems to the all green species that is aggressively invasive.

I do understand the caution that many state ag departments are taking. Cogon grass is a real issue for the damage it can do to the environment. I no longer grow this plant in Florida since it is on the noxious weed list here and prohibited.

Research still needs to be done to confirm whether or not 'Red Baron' can revert to the species.

A study at the University of Florida quotes:
"Imperata cylindrica (cogon grass) is an invasive exotic species occurring in many areas of the southeastern U.S. The taxonomy of ornamental selections of Imperata is not consistent with plants sold in the nursery industry as the cultivar 'Red Baron' and the variety rubra, both with red leaves. Many descriptions of red leaf cogon grass indicate it is unable to produce flowers but flowers have been reported in Kansas, Florida, and Washington, D.C. Presently it is unknown if ornamental, red leaf selections of cogon grass have the potential to contribute to the sexual reproduction of the invasive species."

Grass Guy...what is "TC work?"

TC = tissue culture production

sorry, i tend to get 'typing lazy' :)

Thanks. There are a few paragraphs on tissue culture or micro-propagation in my only propagation book, but I don't think it's something I'll be trying soon.

Are many grasses done this way? What's the most common method of vegetative propagation for grasses?

Hey now Donn, you're asking trade secrets LOL

Tissue culturing is done in a lab at pretty high expense, so to put an item into TC, one must be planning on producing big numbers of that product. Lots of hostas are produced by TC. Some grasses are in TC.

#1 method to propagate OG's ... vegetative division. Smallest viable piece of the plant with some energy still remaining to grow. OG's are very labor intensive in serious starter plant propagation.

HA! With 2/5ths of an acre of ground, much of which is covered by house, boathouse and driveway, I doubt I'll be a serious competitor for anyone.

I Google Earth'd the property of an OG grower the other day, and got serious greenhouse envy.

well, donn, when you run out of room for grasses, the boathouse and driveway are just going to have to go ;)