Tommymoo's Garden
Grass (Stipa tenuissima)
Genus: Stipa.
Species: Stipa tenuissima.
July 2010. 10 seedlings from eBay
Exposure: Full sun
Hardiness: Hardy
Soil type: Well-drained/light
Height: 60cm
Spread: 30cm
Time to divide plants: April to June
A neat, compact, perennial grass, this has lots of close-packed, stiff, thread-like stems forming a strongly horizontal shape about 60cm (2ft) tall. In summer, plants are covered with masses of elegant pale feathery seed-heads which are held a little above the foliage. These can be cut and dried when first opened for use in winter arrangements indoors. Alternatively they make a useful winter food source for finches and other seed-eating birds. Plants like a sunny well-drained spot and associate well with compact alstroemerias, rock plants and other grasses that enjoy similar growing conditions. To propagate, divide plants from mid-spring to early summer.
