Nassella Species, Silky Thread Grass, Mexican Feather Grass, Mexican Needle Grass, Pony Tails

Interesting that nearly all of the comments are from very warm zones, where this plant is certainly invasive. But I live in zone 5, grow...Read More it like an annual in a pot, and it's gorgeous. It never reseeds and in fact rarely has time to bloom. I recommend it for zone 5b and colder, but for warmer zones please consider the consequences of its rapid spread. Even if the seedlings are "easy to pull" there will be no one to pull them when it escapes to natural areas, as it surely will sooner or later.

Native to west Texas, New Mexico, Mexico, Chile, and Argentina, this species has been deemed an emerging threat to natural habitat in Cal...Read Moreifornia (where it is not native), where it has escaped cultivation and is well on the way to becoming the next Pampas grass.

This is a weed in its native range where land is disturbed as by overgrazing. It forms indigestible balls in the stomach of stock and, if they are forced to graze the infested pasture, they may lose weight and die, as Nassella tenuissima has a high fibre content and a low nutritive value.

This is a prohibited species in Australia, where it has naturalized despite being quarantined.

It has also naturalized in New Zealand, South Africa, France, and Italy.

http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=463
[HYPERLINK@www.eppo.int]

I cant stand this stuff... my neighbor has this planted everywhere and it killed all the stuff in my garden beds and now my turf is mixed...Read More with Mexican feather grass. Here's a video I made showing how invasive this can be, it's so frustrating. http://youtu.be/-ZsUkxg6v6E

PROS: beautiful to watch wave in the wind. Easy to plant, grow and reseed (does on its own) Drought tolerant and great for rocky xeriscap...Read Morees. SUGGESTION: perfect for large areas or acreages needing soil retention, hillsides, empty lots with poor soil and little irrigation. It'll spread on its own and you'll have to do nothing.
CONS: DO NOT PLANT AROUND POOLS OR PONDS with pumps. The thread will blow into water and clog up filters. It'll stick to your clothing, gloves, hair. DO NOT plant if you have dogs or cats that like to sniff around everything. Our little Terrier mix got one or two of the threads up her nose and that began a 24-hour sneeze fest for her. It'd stop for awhile then start up again. It exhausted her and she didn't know what was going on. The next day we took her to our vet (soonest we could) along with samples of threads. Doc put a numbing gel down nostrils and took a look with a scope. She couldn't find anything, but the gel and scope must have unlodged the barb and she was able to pass it (we assume). Her ordeal was over, with a $90 vet bill. NEXT TIME, I'll know to use saline rinse and/or a NasaGel spray and start flushing her nose immediately. BUGS like sow bugs and snails love to live in undergrowth if you water too much. SUGGESTION: remove clumps of hair (flowers) when you can and deadhead in August. You can deadhead anytime if you don't want it to reseed, but it won't look the same unless you can cut along its natural line. PULL UP babies as you see and toss OR do what I do: I pot them up and sell to folks with hillside properties that want beauty that takes no effort except initial planting and watering once a week during first month or so. IN AUSTRALIA they've banned this plant and it's labeled as a noxious weed. I had to laugh at the thought of it taking over the entire Outback. It's not native there so they're very strict. It got into country being mislabeled. They say it produces 700,000 to 1 million seeds A MONTH in their climate. In some areas where it's taken over, they torch it. How'd that be on the barbie?!!

I planted three small plants along a border, and I now have at least one dozen volunteers. What is interesting is that this grass seems t...Read Moreo preferentially pop up along the edges of our garden paths. Although I had wanted thyme to grow around my rock path, it just refused to tolerate the heat, and died out. So, although I had a different vision, stipa has filled in and requires much less water than most plants, which is great since we are in a drought. My Yellow Lab does not mind it at all, and we have not had any health problems with her due to this plant. My advice: this will work well IF you want a fairly natural, windswept look, but it will pop up everywhere. That said, it is very easy to pull out from places it is not wanted, and it fulfills my basic gardening philosophy: plants have to want to be in my garden; I am not going to coddle or cajole plants into thriving in my yard! This one loves it here, so, welcome!

Your neighbors will hate you for planting Mexican Feather Grass, or Thread Grass. It will be growing all over the place-and is not at all...Read More easy to pull up in the dry alkaline soils we have.
It may wave in the wind beautifully, but do you really want it everywhere in the landscape?

I'm in zone 13a (as http://planthardiness.ars.usda.go...Read Morev/PHZMWeb/) maybe I'm a daredevil but I sow a few of those a few months ago -maybe mid December- and they are germinating!!!! Hope to succeed!

I planted more than one in a perennial bed that gets watered regularly. It's lovely, but it sure does reseed! I pull and hoe out the see...Read Moredlings from my beds, but my husband lets many seedlings go in his naturalized dry, desert areas. It's pretty easy to pull up and worth the effort, but I remove as much seed fluff as I can now and often shear the seed heads off. Absolutely beautiful to watch in the wind.

This plant makes me furious.

This is the nicest thing I can say.

The landlord of the apartments next door h...Read Moread landscapers plant half a dozen of these along our shared pathway. The metric ton of seed fluff that accumulates along my edging looks like handfulls of mangey dog hair. I end up sweeping it up multiple times daily. If they were my plants I'd remove them asap. And am thinking about it regardless, between you and me.

These have been planted less than 6 months. I'm literally afraid of the volunteers I'll encounter in the future.

This is a beautiful grass, though invasive as others have mentioned. The movement of the plant as a light breeze catches it is just beau...Read Moretiful to watch. Very calming and can add a dynamic touch to your garden.

Although it reseeds freely as others have mentioned, I find the seedlings easy to pull out. Even the larger ones can be removed or trans...Read Moreplanted without much effort. If you are trying to maintain a very neat landscape, this plant is probably going to drive you crazy. If you like a more naturalized look as I do, you may really like it. It fills in the areas around my other plants, but doesn't choke them out. It reminds me of the California coast, which is the look I am going for in our front yard. As others have said, don't plant where your dog might get into it.

plant grows well here ,'west mesa in albuquerque. no problem with reseeding have divided to get four new plants. Looks good in winter.

I live in the Dallas, TX area & planted one in 2007. I now have several that I've re-potted from baby plants. My main plant did die afte...Read Morer an awful frost last year, but left its babies and I was thrilled. YES, they do re-seed very easily but are so easy to pull out when very little if not wanted. I don't consider them invasive for this reason. I love watching the gentle peaceful swaying in the wind of this plant. I've given several away. I have only 3 in the ground and several in pots right now.

I put one of these in a small backyard garden because I liked it visually and the way it moves in the wind. I thought it a harmless caref...Read Moreree addition. You'd think it ideal for Xeriscape or rock gardens. However it reseeds like crazy, and this from just one plant. Put 4 -5 or more in and you will have alot of extra work on your hands come early spring. I'll be sure to research before I try any other ornamental grasses. Proceed with caution with this choice.

My dog chased her tennis ball into an area of our yard where this plant is proliferating. She had several of the hairs stuck in her eyes ...Read Moreand they caused her eye to swell shut. It has also somehow affected her jaw and given her a form of "lock jaw" and the veterinarian thinks she may have contracted tetanus from it. I am pulling it out and would not recommend it in a yard with active dogs.

beautiful sensuous grass which adapts to a variety of conditions, sun, part shade, dry poor soil. Reseeds and spreads but not difficult to control.

My landscape designer suggested this grass, and I think it is really lovely to watch blowing in the wind. However, it was planted next to...Read More my swimming pool, and the seed threads pass through my filter baskets and clog my impeller. I have to clear it out daily, even though I go out every morning and strip as much seed off of the plants as I can. I'll probably have to dig up the plants, and hope they don't sprout on the other side of the back yard wall, in the desert.

I will agree with most of the aforementioned statements , durable , beautiful and so on . But I also see that it is labeled as INVASIVE ....Read More I capitalize that with good reason . Here in the southwest desert and this is not a native plant . I planted 6 of them and now have had 100's of them all over my property (4 acres ) in an area that recieves less than 10 inches of rainfall a year and this stuff is sprouting up with no irragation . More so in areas that does . Once released it will scatter more than likely and add more fuel to already disastrous wildfires .

This grass looks like a clump of hair, dancing in the breeze. Soft green in spring, then turns a soft beige in the hot summer, and I lea...Read Moreve it uncut in winter to provide interest. It does re-seed fairly heavily, but unwanted volunteers are easily pulled. I grow it pretty dry in my xeriscape area, in clay loam low in organic material. Survived a dry cold winter quite well. The description says 24-36" height -- I've never seen it get taller than 6-8", even at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Maybe because we grow it dry in the Rockies?

I really loved the look of this grass in our landscape. It grows quite well in the desert southwest with some irrigation. But beware if ...Read Moreyou have puppies that like to grab at anything that moves. One of our puppies grabbed at some seeds/feathers that had fallen to the ground and nearly choked while trying to swallow them. We were unable to find any in it's mouth to remove, so I don't believe it had very much.
Also, this plant is a favorite of jackrabbits, so it's best grown behind a fenced area or chicken wire.

I grow this grass in a pot, and bring it in for the winter. I also start it in the ground, dig it up, and bring it into the house to ove...Read Morerwinter. That way, I get the lovely bloom although my season is too short for it to bloom outdoors. Last year's pot plant is blooming no - in early April, in my sunroom.

this was one of the first plants I put in my new garden because it is so beautiful in the wind and I am in a windy area. It did very wel...Read Morel even through our cold winter but I fear I have baby's all around it! will try and transplant them to my other garden. did well in composted heavy clay and was watered by drip only once a week even in hot weather.

Other common names for this grass that is native to California, New Mexico, Texas, Mexico, and Argentina: ponytail grass, horsetail gras...Read Mores, horse tail grass, hair grass, angel hair grass, angelhair grass, finestem needlegrass

I have grown Mexican feather grass in a large container and did not have a reseeding problem; however, this may be atypical. It appears it will self-sow more prolifically in moist areas and is not as bothersome in dry locations. It mysteriously died sabout 5 years ago. This spring, a new plant emerged in the container in which the old plant had been growing. I am extremely happy that I have been blessed with this gift because I had missed the plant very much after it died.

My comment is postive based on growability in the Central Valley of California. The only thing I don't care for, my wife loves it, is it...Read More sows itself all over the place. Otherwise a very durable plant.

San Antonio, Tx.
One is growing in a huge container and from the top it looks almost like a huge green wig. I bought it at Walmart...Read More as a small plant and it has grown quite rapidly. Its blades blow in the wind so gracefully that it provides a soothing effect. It has withstood 22 degree nights in the winter and 108 degrees for 2 days this summer.

The hardiness of this grass seems to depend on the age. Clumps that have not flowered are much hardier, making this a biennial for me. ...Read MoreUsually the clumps that have flowered do not survive the winter.

The flower stalks and seeds are very sticky so that seeding around is very common.

Seeds sprout in mid to late spring outdoors.