Description Family Poaceae Garden origin. A strikingly upright and compact grass with an outstanding architectural quality. Pink tinted flowers appear in summer turning to tan, making a display well into winter. Hardy and easy to grow in full sun or light shade, drought tolerant once established. A firm favourite at Urban Jungle, this stunningly upright, slender and compact grass forms clumps of narrow foliage and diaphanous flowers and seeds. It makes a unique architectural plant, with deciduous blades of foliage that only reach half the height of the flowering stems, arching only near their tips, making a self-contained yet soft textured tight clump from which the flowering stems emerge. It produces pink-tinted flower spikes that soon turn to a light tan colour in summer, well above the foliage. The seed heads turn to rich cinnamon brown in late summer and autumn and maintain a beautiful display into winter as they turn silvery grey. Depending on seasonal conditions this feathery, vertical spectacle can last into late winter, catching the season’s strong sunlight, which illuminates its pale colours, casting long shadows and adding another dimension to its long season of display. Unusually for a deciduous grass, we recommend this variety for use in contemporary gardens, such are its structural qualities. It is commonly used in prairie and mixed borders, especially planted in drifts, amongst other grasses or tall perennial flowering plants, but it has many other uses. It can form hedges and path borders, framing views and features, or form backdrops to seating areas in tight spaces around patios in small gardens. Great in raised beds and large pots it looks fantastic amongst lower growing, evergreen rounded species such as Pittosporum tobira ‘Nanum’, Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Beach Ball’, or Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Tom Thumb’. Its textural qualities make for a great composition with other intricate foliage plants too, like Meuhlenbekia astonii, Frangula alnus ‘Fine line’ and Sophora ‘Little Baby‘. Robust and easy to grow in any soil type in full sun or light shade and in coastal conditions. It is drought tolerant when established. Height and spread after 2 – 5 years 1.5m x 1m.
