PlantFiles: Purple Love Grass
Eragrostis spectabilis

I received seed for this grass in a trade in 2005. It was presented as Muhlenbergia capillaris, and germinated very well with winter sowing techniques, and was apparent quite early that it was not Mulhly. It bloomed profusely in it's first year, with the gorgeous purple mist, which faded after over a month to a beige mist. As the infloresence ages, it takes on a tumbleweed-like characteristic, breaking off from the plant, and carrying the seeds wherever the wind takes it. This is the point where I began harvesting the seeds, simply combing my fingers through the mist, and collecting the bunches that break off. After a couple of weeks, I had them all, and it amounted to several hundred thousand seeds. It took a bit of creative winnowing to clean them, but was worth the effort.

I love the grass, and will grow it in sweeps and masses, in front of taller ornamental grasses.

I am in 4b/5a zone, and found this grass to be extremely prolific, even though hardiness is supposedly to zone 6. This summer I actually "removed" it from my gardens - I became tired of removing all the babies (some 25 feet from the mother) from unwanted places. It is very pretty when in flower, however the flowers are not durable, and do not last even through fall. To successfully "dead-head", you lose all effect of the "lavender mist" that makes this grass desirable.