Grasses, Sedges & Rushes

Showing 13–16 of 27 results

  • Eragrostis spectabilis Purple Love grass Z. 5-9

    Profuse tiny purple panicles in August-September. One of internationally known garden designer Piet Oudolf’s 100 “MUST HAVE” plants, Gardens Illustrated 94 (2013)

    $10.25/bareroot

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    Profuse tiny purple panicles in August-September. One of internationally known garden designer Piet Oudolf’s 100 “MUST HAVE” plants, Gardens Illustrated 94 (2013)

    Size: 2’ x 18”
    Care: Full sun in well-drained soil - (slow to emerge in spring)
    Native: Maine west to Minnesota, south to Arizona, Wisconsin native

    Eragrostis is Greek meaning “love”, (eros) and grass, agrostis. This species first named by botanist Frederick Pursh in his book Flora Americae Septronalis. (1813)

  • Festuca ovina glauca Blue fescue Z 4-8

    mound of thin blue gray foliage

    $9.95/bareroot

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    Festuca ovina glauca  Blue fescue   Z 4-8
    Spiky but graceful mound of thin blue gray foliage – early summer short spikes of blue-green flowers

    Size: 12" x 10"
    Care: sun, moist well-drained to well-drained soil
    Native: temperate areas thoughout the world

    Festuca is Latin meaning “grass stalk.” American garden cultivation since 1800’s.

  • Helictotrichon sempervirens Blue oat grass Z 4-9

    rounded mound of thin, steel-blue leaves

    $11.25/bareroot

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    Helictotrichon sempervirens   Blue oat grass   Z 4-9
    June-July spikes rise above a magnificent rounded mound of thin, steel-blue leaves – one of the best.

    Size: 4' x 2'
    Care: full sun in moist well-drained to well-drained soil
    Native: Europe
    Awards: Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden Great Plant Pick.

    Named by Dominique Villars (1745-1814).  Liberty Hyde Bailey (1933) said that Blue oat grass “scarcely grown as ornamental subjects.”

  • Hystrix patula syn. Elymus hystris var. hystris Bottle brush grass Z 5-9

    June thru fall bears 6” long spikes looking like bottle brushes

    $10.25/bareroot

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    Hystrix patula  syn. Elymus hystris var. hystris   Bottle brush grass   Z 5-9
    June thru fall bears 6” long spikes looking like bottle brushes.

    Size: 2-3’ x 12-18”
    Care: sun to part shade in dry to moist well-drained soil - tolerates dry shade
    Native: Nova Scotia S to Virginia, W to ND and OK.
    Wildlife Value: Birds eat seeds

    Hystrix from the Greek (‘hedgehog’) meaning “with spikes” or “bristly” describing the flowers and patula means “spreading.”  Collected before 1794.  In 1913 L H Bailey wrote, “sometimes used for lawn decoration and for borders.”