GrassDrought tolerantRain gardenDeer resistant

Chinese Silver Grass

Miscanthus sinensis

A big, arching grass with showy plumes in fall that grows in nearly any soil. It's invasive: wind-blown seed carries it into roadsides and wild areas, Massachusetts and Maryland ban its sale, and its dense clumps are highly flammable. For the look, choose a sterile cultivar or native switchgrass or big bluestem.

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Chinese Silver Grass: whole plant — Photo: A.Savin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Mature size: 7 × 4 ft; 2.1 × 1.2 m, tall × wide
Hardiness: Zones 5a–9a; USDA
Sun: Full sun
Water: Dry to wet
Blooms: Sep–Oct

Chinese Silver Grass at its mature size

A mature Chinese Silver Grass grows 6 to 8 feet tall and 3 to 5 feet wide, taller than most people.

Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.

Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: Monrovia.

Through the year

What Chinese Silver Grass looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.

Dormant · Dec–Feb

Whole clump straw-beige with fluffy plumes, standing.

Below ground · Mar–Apr

Cut back; new shoots barely out of the ground.

In leaf · May–Aug

Fountain of fine narrow arching green leaves with white midribs, no plumes.

In flower · Sep–Oct

Copper-pink feathery plumes held above the leaves.

Fall · Nov

Foliage golden-tan and copper, plumes fluffy silver-white.

Photos

Chinese Silver Grass: flowers — Flowers · Dominicus Johannes Bergsma, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Chinese Silver Grass: detail — Detail · t-mizo, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Growing Chinese Silver Grass

Grows well in

The Northeast, the Southeast, the Midwest, the Plains and Mountain West, the Pacific Northwest, and California.

Growth rate

Medium

Good for

Drought tolerant, rain garden, and deer resistant

Leaves

Dies back in winter

Native to

East Asia

State lists

Listed as invasive in Connecticut, with sales banned from October 1, 2028. Connecticut Invasive Plant List

Listed as invasive in Delaware, with sales banned from May 1, 2028. Delaware Invasive Plant List

Prohibited in Maryland, so it can’t be sold there. Maryland Prohibited Invasive Plant List

Prohibited in Massachusetts, so it can’t be sold there. Massachusetts Prohibited Plant List

Listed as invasive in New Jersey, with sales banned from January 1, 2030. Prohibited Invasive Plant List (Invasive Species Management Act, 2026)

Listed as invasive in New York. Prohibited and Regulated Invasive Species (6 NYCRR Part 575)

Listed as invasive in Virginia. Virginia Invasive Plant Species List

Spacing

VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Chinese Silver Grass, that’s about 4 ft apart, center to center.

Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.