Cenchrus, Fountain Grass 'Hameln'

This cultivar, and pretty species from East Asia, is commonly planted in the Midwest and East US. This cultivar is more compact growing t...Read Morehan the mother species, making a big rounded mound. It bears a large number of the bottlebrush type of flower-seed heads in later summer onward. It is soft and easy to dig up and reset when needed, as if the middle of the clump eventually dies out as is common with many clump grasses. It unfortunately can self-sow a lot. I think Fountain-grasses and Eulalia-grasses (Miscanthus) are over-planted and I'd like to see more native American species planted in American gardens, as Switch-grass, Dropseed, and Bluestems.

Here on the north edge of its hardiness range, on soils a bit heavier than it likes, this has done well enough for me. In the sandy soil...Read More in the garden at church, it did much better. I like to just burn them off on a dry day in March. The pugs like to play in the clumps.

It does appear that there are some seedlings. The species grows larger and makes more seedlings, but I planted this selection first and saw more clumps before I set out clumps of the species.

Surely there are good places for this plant, but I am very unhappy with the landscaper who put four of them in my front beds. It gets hug...Read Moree--easily 4 feet tall and 5 feet across. It’s a water hog. It self-seeds prodigiously. It grows in ever-widening concentric circles around a dead center. It’s a great hotel for fire ants. It laughed at the grassy weed killer I poured on it. I finally had to dig them all out, and am still recovering from the whole experience.

This is one of my favorite grasses. Mostly because it is a true dwarf. It can be used in a lot of places that other grasses are too lar...Read Morege for. Just a great looking grass that is easy to grow in my zone 8b.