'Gold Bar' takes much longer than 3 years to reach it's mature size. It's a very very slow growing cultivar. It's patent holder, Joy Creek Nursery, puts it this way:

"After 8 years, this finally grew to 5 feet in height."

I bought a dozen of them, on sale, a year ago. They were in 3" pots, and I potted them up to trade gallons (3 quarts). They're still in those pots, and barely a foot tall. I'll pot them on later this month, some to 600's (1.6 gallons) and some to various decorative containers, with other plants.

I don't think transplanting Miscanthus stunts it's growth for a whole year. If you do it just as it starts it's spring growth, after it's annual haircut, it'll barely skip a beat. Just be sure to take as large a rootball as you can handle. You'll never get all the roots, but a little root pruning to match the foliage trimming, will actually stimulate growth, rather than stunting it.

I'm actually glad 'Gold Bar' grows so slowly. I'd much prefer it to grow slowly, rather than as explosively as some of my other grasses.

Barf. I hope it won't take quite that long since I really like the coloration. Ideally I'd like the leaves to be about 5 feet tall, but I can live with 3 feet for a while so perhaps it can manage that in a year or two. I suppose I could switch to Little Zebra, or something else that grows a bit quicker, but the variegation isn't as good.

Larry,

The compact growth habit of this Miscanthus is a plus. Lots of others out there that will reach 5 feet in a growing season. I have never seen such great horizontal variegation. It should be called 'Greenbar'.

Here is a photo of one of two Goldbar grasses in my landscape. I get more comments and questions about this grass than any others in my garden. This was planted in early spring from a trade gallon, greenhouse grown from a plug last fall. This plant measures 18" tall right now and is the taller of the two Goldbars by a few inches. I love this Miscanthus!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:867376}}

what size pot do i need to plant this grass - i have one pot that is 18 inches tall and 15 across

I planted 2 very small Gold Bars in March of 2007.
They were puny, but so colorful!
They have grown quite nicely, they are about 12 inches high and really filled out width wise.
My neighbors even made comments on how beautiful they were!
These grasses are gorgeous!
My red lillies came up around them in June and they looked awesome!
They are slow growing and definately worth it!

I see this discussion is 10 years old, but I, too, planted a Gold Bar in 2015 and was dismayed that in 2017 it is still only 12" tall. I am happy to have found this thread, as it answers my question as to why it is not getting any taller. Yet! I just purchased a "Gold Breeze'. Has anyone else tried this and if so, doe it too grow very slow?