Fluffy Feathertop Grass is a tender perennial grass in Zones 9 and 10 and is typically grown as an annual in cooler regions. This ornamental grass is favored for the fine texture, motion, and grace it offers the garden during the growing season as well as its sculptural beauty in winter, especially when transformed by a fresh coat of snow. Fluffy Feathertop Grass produces an airy tufted mound of narrow, linear green leaves and blooms in fluffy white spikelets from midsummer into fall. Borne atop elegant slender stems, the plumes tint purple with age and make lovely additions to cut flower arrangements, fresh and dried.
Fluffy is a warm-season grass with an upright habit. Feather grass is a valued accent or specimen plant for garden or container, but it is shown to best effect massed or grouped in beds and borders, where it continues to add volume and color after most perennials have stopped blooming. Feather grass is a natural for a rock garden or a heath garden.
Feathertop grass is easy to grow and low maintenance. It prefers sunny locations with light, moderately fertile, well-draining soil but grows well in a variety of soil types, including average and sandy soils. Keep feathertop grass well-watered the first year. Once the plant is established and has developed an extensive root system, it is drought tolerant. Cut back spent foliage to within a few inches of the ground in late winter or early spring, just before new spring growth begins, and divide the plant every 3 to 4 years.
