Native grasses add ornamental texture to gardens, yards

Native grasses add ornamental texture to landscaped areas and are easy to grow and care for. Tufted Hairgrass (Deschampsia cespitosa) is a long-lived, robust, mounding perennial native to the east and west coasts of North America and beyond. Also called salt and pepper grass or small-flowered tickle grass, this wind-pollinated grass a cool season plant common to moist soils. It is one of the few grasses that will tolerate partial shade.

Popular for wetland restoration and stream bank stabilization, it provides dense nesting foliage and stays green well into summer. This highly adaptable grass is also recommended for mountain meadow, subalpine and alpine habitats. In your yard the bright green clumping leaves produce slender 2-4 foot flower stalks with purple tinged florets that mature into feathery, buff-colored plumes with wispy hair-like awns – hence the name “hairgrass.”

In the garden, cut old foliage and seed stalks to the ground in late winter. Clumps spread by rhizomes and seeds, but deadheading in autumn will reduce seed spread if you want to contain your bed.

Tufted Hairgrass adds year-round softness and movement in meadow gardens, perennial borders, water garden borders, and rock and wildlife gardens. It resists most pests and diseases. The airy plumes and feathery flower stalks contrast nicely with hostas, ferns, astilbe, deadnettle, Solomon’s seal and evergreen shrubs.

Several species of North American butterflies, including the umber skipper, rely on this grass for caterpillar food. Game birds and songbirds feast on its seeds and grazing animals feed on the foliage. The mounding growth provides cover to nesting waterfowl and small mammals.

Get a close-up look at tufted hairgrass in the Riparian habitat in the North Idaho Native Plant Arboretum. Open to the public, parking for the arboretum is at 611 S. Ella Ave. or on the street.

Tufted Hairgrass is described on page 233 of the KNPS publication, "Landscaping with Native Plants in the Idaho Panhandle", available at local bookstores and the Bonner County History Museum. Native Plant Notes are created by the Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society. To learn more about KNPS and the North Idaho Native Plant Arboretum, go online to nativeplantsociety.org.