I've seen those hardiness ratings for this, too. I would say good drainage in a warm microclimate...on the south side of the house, perhaps. Also a good 6 inch mulch over winter wouldn't hurt. Good luck with it. I'm trying it also.

Dave
Franklin

Aww. Go on....give it a shot...what can it hurt?

Dave
zone 5...ish
Franklin

I have miscanthus giganticus. Sometimes I'll see it referred to as pampas grass, but it's something different. It's beautiful though, 6' already this year. It's very hardy to our zone and spreads quite a bit each spring. If it wasn't for our winters it would probably be invasive.

If you already have the pampas grass, you could try overwintering it like they do with bananas. Cut it down in fall, then cover it with bags of dry leaves or mulch. For extra protection you could cover the bags with plastic sheeting to keep it all dry (give it a little slope so the water and snow fall off). Maybe it will make it, who knows?

I recently bought pink and white pampas being sold as a perennial at a Greenhouse in northern Oconto County. I bought one of each with hopes that it would winter. It's only a little over a foot tall right now, but can anyone ID it's foliage as true pampas or the fake hardy stuff?

Please be very careful and consider not planting miscanthus. It can be VERY invasive espeially if planted in a wet area. There are acers of the stuff gone wild in southern WI. We had it at our old house. It started as a 3 ft patch to hide the propaine tank and within 7 years it threatened to take over the deck which was 30 ft away. The man that filled the tank always complained because he couldn't get to it and it was a fire hazard. The roots travel by runners that are like quack grass on steroids. We ended up having it removed by back hoe and dumped in a shady place in the woods where it still tried to grow. Digging it out by hand was impossible and even though I usually do not use roundup I tried it on that and the grass just laughed.
Catrina

I killed mine easily with Round-up. But because it has a lot of underground roots for the chemical to "invade", you may need to do it again in about 2-3 weeks. This will introduce enough Round-up in high enough concentration to do the job.

This running form is Miscanthus is bad. And I haven't seen it sold for many, many, many years. If you see a Miscanthus sold with a cultivar name attached, it will be a clumping form (and should also say on the tag), and does not take over the world. Clumping forms do not run as Catrina describes. There are white types and pink types.

The only exception to my knowledge is Miscanthus floridulus(giganticus). It also runs, and can be aggressive, but not as rampantly as the type Catrina speaks of.