Saw it at a rock garden park near where i grew up. Fell in love immediately.

but not in my postage-stamp front yard. They would be awesome in a big yard. It was supposed to be a basic xeriscaped yard, but didn't turn out that way!

They'd look great around my pond.

Caveat -- I'm the type who will spray ant spray on plants to kill ants. It works because the plants die.

and shouldn't be planted anywhere. Be sure and don't let the seed heads go. Cut it back to the ground and hack off parts of it as you can. Good luck!

I can't kill them and have tried for 25 years.

They're at least 6 feet tall. I don't have the strength to do it myself. You basically have to put a bungee cord around it and take a hedge trimmer to it from the bottom to trim it. Then, you have to dig and dig to get the vigorous roots out. I asked the gardener last year to take a chunk off and transplant it, hoping it would stunt its growth, which he did, but it didn't take. AND it grew back bigger. So it must go.

The ones that are toughest to get rid of are those that spread through runners because they'll take over. Miscanthus sinensis (silvergrass) is one of those, too - it's really cool looking but it's very aggressive and in some areas is considered an invasive species. http://www.invadingspecies.com/miscanthus/

I saw it a lot in SoCal, when I lived there. Really pretty, BUT invasive as you state. My gardener had to know that it would get that way. It wasn't the first thing I didn't like about his work (ethic). I told him what I liked, but these weren't one of them - he just planted them.