The Best Native Ornamental Grasses

                           
Are you looking for a great native grass? A three year performance study was done by Jeffrey G. Norocini and James H. Aldrich at the wildflower research center.They have given us a list of the top 5.

1)Purpletop (Tridens flavus)                       
2)Gulf or Purple Muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris)           
3)Bigtop Love Grass (Eragrustis hirsuta)               
4)Chalky Bluestem (Panicum virgatum)                   
5) Alamo Switchgrass (Andropogon virginicus)                   

Gulf Muhly is frequent throughout Florida. It is a tufted perennial that is about 2m tall when mature. It’s  blades are up to 4mm wide and 96 cm long and it’s panicle (fluffy tuft) is usually purplish and 23-34cm long and 11-19 cm wide. Gulf Muhly can usually be purchased at local retail nuseries that sell native plants. Availability of  Purpletop is very limited, so the best chance of finding it for sale is from a nursery  specializing in native plants. Dr. Norocini feels possibly the good performance of   Purpletop may encourage it’s production. Chalky Bluestem and Bigtop Love Grass seem to act more like annuals or short lived prerennials. So it seems that Purpletop and Gulf Muhly are the best choices.