Fountain Grass

Other Names: Chinese Pennisetum, Foxtail Fountain Grass

Description:

Fine textured bright green foliage changes to a golden tan in fall; blooms are large dark reddish-brown bottlebrush plumes that persist until winter; beautiful as an accent or massed in borders or rock garden

Ornamental Features:

Fountain Grass features beautiful racemes of dark red flowers with brown overtones rising above the foliage in late summer, which are most effective when planted in groupings. It's grassy leaves are green in colour. As an added bonus, the foliage turns a gorgeous coppery-bronze in the fall. The brown seed heads are carried on showy plumes displayed in abundance in mid fall.

Landscape Attributes:

Fountain Grass is an herbaceous ornamental grass with a shapely form and gracefully arching stems. It brings an extremely fine and delicate texture to the garden composition and should be used to full effect.

This is a relatively low maintenance ornamental grass, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. Deer don't particularly care for this plant and will usually leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Fountain Grass is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• General Garden Use
• Mass Planting
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• Container Planting
• Accent

Plant Characteristics:

Fountain Grass will grow to be about 4 feet tall at maturity extending to 5 feet tall with the flowers, with a spread of 24 inches. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years.

This ornamental grass should only be grown in full sunlight. It is very adaptable to both dry and moist growing conditions, but will not tolerate any standing water. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for a low-water garden or xeriscape application. It is not particular as to soil type or pH, and is able to handle environmental salt. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This plant can be propagated by division.

This species is not originally from North America.

This plant is not reliably hardy in our region, and certain restrictions may apply; contact the store for more information.