It’s the purple cultivar that got everyone excited about big bold ornamental grasses in backyard gardens. Purple Fountain Grass is the ideal accent and filler that gives even the dullest landscape a whole new life. The arching flower heads of Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’ are so light and graceful they come alive under the slightest breeze. This is a vigorous fast growing grass that’s native to the tropics of Africa. The purple variety is different from all the other Pennisetums in that it’s rather sensitive to winter cold. More often than not the grass simply does not come back again the second year no matter how large it became in the first. Only in the most tropical climates, much like that of its native homeland, will it make consecutive annual showings. To really use this grass effectively in your summer garden, you must treat it like an annual. Buy in inexpensive quarts to fill your garden or a set of matched containers with this fabulous plant. One gallon containers are ideal in ground because the plants grow so fast they’ll reach full size by summer’s end when you want to see an abundance of flowers. Larger five gallon containers are expensive and not worth the extra money because later in the year the smaller plants will catch up. Add some lawn fertilizer to really force them to grow lots of purple foliage early on, which will develop a large crown capable of pushing up droves of blossom spikes. At season’s end allow them to die with the frost and retain their purple coloring deep into the fall. You can also collect the seed shed by the flower heads to grow a new batch from scratch come spring.
