Here’s an interesting native grass: Its foliage reminds you of bamboo. Its highly-decorative seed heads look like oats. Emerging green, they turn purple/bronze in summer and finally tawny in fall and winter.

Chasmanthium tolerates more shade than most ornamental grasses. It’s also juglone tolerant, so even the notoriously unfriendly shade under black walnut trees is available for gardening.

Those pendulous seed heads are dazzling in late-afternoon sunlight. At any color stage, they make a fabulous filler for arrangements, especially with dried flowers. Height 3 – 4’. Hardy in Zones 5 - 9

The Game of the Name

The vernacular name comes from a similar species’ affinity for sandy soil and salt air, plus the heads-of-grain appearance of its spiky seed clusters. It has at least two other local names: “Indian wood oats,” and the oxymoronic “Inland sea oats.”

Feeling your oats? Fill your bowl with Chasmanthium. It’s native, it’s attractive, it’s easy to grow – and it comes in quick-planting, fast-finishing liners from Emerald Coast Growers – the easy choice!