How much to cut back maiden grass?

[Jarviswabi]

I planted a maiden grass (miscanthus sinensis gracillimus) in my front bed last spring, and it was absolutely the star of the garden. Beautiful growth all summer, great flowers in the fall, and it even looked cool during our 3 months of snowy winter.

In doing some early spring cleanup a few weeks ago, I pulled out all the loose dead plumes, probably about a third of the plant's volume. But I'm hesitant to "cut back" the whole thing, because I'm not sure what that really means. The middle plumes with the flower remnants are about 5-6 feet tall, with a lot of curly wispy plumes around it. But it's clearly all dead.

Do I really just cut it right back down to the nubs and wait for new growth? I just don't want to do the wrong thing, since it looked so good anchoring the flower bed.

[Jim McQuiggin]

"Jarviswabi" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I cut miscanthus and calamagrostis down to ankle height each spring, and divide them every three or four years.

Jim Zone 6, Niagara

[Newt]

Prune to the ground in late winter before new growth begins.

-- Newt