Puny Plumes on my Pampas Grass

About 5 years ago, I bought some pampas grass at Lowes. It's gotten huge, has been divided several times over the years. It gets rather tall, 10 or so ft at times. But the plumes are NOT fat and fluffy like the ones I see around town. These are skinnier plumes and when they dry, they're like feathers. The pampas plumes around town are fat and remind me of the end of a lion's tail. Mine are just a bit fluffier than the plumes on maiden grass.

Do I need a specific type of pampas grass or should I be cutting mine back in summer so it will focus more on the plume formation? I'm this close to digging it up and tossing it on the burn pile. The foliage is unimpressive so I live for the plumes which are also unimpressive.

NancyAnn

Can you post some pictures? Sounds like your plant isn't what you thought it was, so either Lowes mislabeled it (which happens quite a lot) or there area few species that could be called pampas grass and yours is a different one than what you thought you were getting.

Here's an old picture taken a few years ago.

And here's a closeup of those puny plumes. The plant hasn't changed much over the years except it is much taller now and much wider but the plumes are still pitiful.

Interesting. Mine are fat and fluffy and very pretty. I believe it is a Dwarf Pampas. It is several years old, at least five and is only about 4 foot tall.

Its looks to me that yours must have been mislabeled as earlier mentioned.

Sorry--forgot to keep an eye on this thread. Your plant is not the plant I know as Pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana). Other than that I'm not very good with grass ID's so I don't know what it is for sure. There are a species or two of Saccharum that go by the common name hardy pampas grass so you might look those up and see if any of them look like yours.

Ecrane, thank you. It was labeled "hardy pampas grass" when I bought it. I looked up Saccharum and found S. Ravenna, aka hardy pampas grass. It looks like mine and its height and bloom time match too. So I think you've IDed the grass for me. I have two large clumps of it and I can't decide if I want to keep it or not. It's not as impressive as my variegated miscanthus or zebra grass or arundo donax variegata. And really I want that beautiful, lush dwarf pampas grass.

Thank you for helping me ID the grass. Now I won't keep waiting for it to become something it's not. LOL

NancyAnn

NancyAnn, I sell ornamental grasses, and what you have is definitely Saccharum ravennae. You need the true pampas grass Cortaderia selloana.

We can't grow it here, darn. I love it.

Hi Pollyk,

It's hardy here in zone 7a. I see it around town and drool over it. You could grow it yearly as an annual. If you do what I do with "tropicals", you might get to live thru a winter or two if you plant it in spring or summer. I plant my zone 8 tropicals in full sun on a mound or slight hill (mounding the dirt up over the root system). I mix some sand in with some good soil and make it rather sandy so it will drain water better. I have an asparagus fern that is in no way hardy in my zone. But it has survived 3 winters planted in this fashion. This past winter was pretty rough and still it survived and is bigger and better than ever. It blows me away!

I ended up freecycling my "pampas grass". I have several variegated grasses I can divide and transplant, so who needs some boring, lame grass? LOL

It's not one of my favorites, either. We have such beautiful miscantus, I really am happy with those.

I wouldn't even bother to try to grow pampas grass annually. It needs to get big to be showy, and believe me, a large clump of grass is heavy. As most things not hardy to our zone, it might make it throught the winter, but then would not have the great bloom it's famous for. So, I'll be happy with miscanthus, but if I ever go south I'll grow the pampas.