FOUNTAIN, or foxtail, grasses are among the most beautiful of deciduous ornamental glasses, their delicate-looking stems topped with long, narrow flowerheads in shades ranging from pinkish-brown to almost white.
The flowerheads are beautiful in their own right, particularly if grown in full sun when they look pink-tinged, and there are varieties which look lovely in beds and borders or in containers.
Try the dwarf variety P.
alopecuroides ‘Hameln’ in containers or at the front of borders, as their compact flowerheads contrast well against other grasses with more diffuse flowers.
Other good varieties include P. orientale, which produces long, narrow, pinkish-white flowerheads, and P. setaceum ‘Purpureum’, an all-purple variety which can be treated as an annual or shortlived perennial. Pennisetums prefer full sun in light, well-drained soil.
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