A large, clumping native grass with fine gray-green blades and tall, wand-like flower spikes in late summer and fall. It brings soft movement and texture to a desert landscape. It is tough, easy to grow and unfazed by either heat or cold.
Living with it in the Phoenix Valley
Watering
Follow the shrub schedule in our Landscape Care guide. It survives on little water but looks fuller and greener with deep soaks through summer, and may brown if kept too dry. It is not fussy about soil.
Pruning
Cut it back once a year in late winter, to a few inches above the ground, to clear dead thatch and make way for fresh growth. Avoid repeated hard shearing through the year, which weakens the clump and can eventually kill it.
Pests
Essentially pest-free in central Arizona.
How our designers use it
Movement and texture
Its fine blades and spikes move in the slightest breeze and soften boulders, walls and dry creek beds.
Massed plantings
It looks best in groups and seen from a little distance, filling slopes and large beds.
Transitions
Our designers use it to bridge a lusher area near the house and a sparser desert planting beyond.
Good to know
Around the pool
Old blades and seed heads shed in the wind. Keep it a few feet from the water.
Mature size
A single clump can reach five feet across. Give it room; it outgrows tight spots quickly.
