Received the RHS Award of Garden Merit.
Herbaceous, clump forming, perennial grass w/ an upright habit.
Leaves have transverse yellowish-white marking.

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For a plant which will thrive in a boggy situation, it has proven to be very drought tolerant in my garden. We received .6" of rain from late June to late July and with no supplemental water 'Strictus' shows no signs of stress. Clump expands by sending out small rhizomes. One garden program showed a nuseryman digging out just the dead center of an old clump in early spring and filling the hole with good compost. Sounded like good advice.

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This is one of the large and common cultivars I first discovered in the west suburbs of Chicago, IL in the early 1990's. Its wide blades are bright green with yellow dots and are sharp edged, and skin can be cut handling it. In about 8 or 10 years, or a little more, the stems grows very thick together and the center of the plant usually dies out. As an old plant it falls over a lot. It is difficult to dig up and cut to divide and reset, as many perennials need to be reset every several years. It is also hard to just cut down in the fall, winter, or early spring. In late winter the leaves and stems if left up start to come apart. I've wondered for years if setting fire to the low cut stems that are left usually about 6 to 10 inches high would clean this plant up, but I am not sure about Eurasian grasses with this idea. (American native grasses like a burn.) I don't like any of the large Miscanthus cultivars or species anymore. If one really likes this East Asian grass species, use the newer dwarf cultivars.

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