Ginger Love Fountain Grass
Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Ginger Love'
Height: 30 inches
Spread: 3 feet
Sunlight:
Hardiness Zone: 4
Description:
A fine textured, intermediate sized fountain grass; bright green foliage turns orange-red in fall; substantial, red bottlebrush plumes persist until winter; beautiful as a rock garden accent or massed in borders
Ornamental Features
Ginger Love Fountain Grass has masses of beautiful plumes of red flowers with creamy white overtones rising above the foliage in mid summer, which are most effective when planted in groupings. Its grassy leaves are green in color. As an added bonus, the foliage turns a gorgeous coppery-bronze in the fall.
Landscape Attributes
Ginger Love Fountain Grass is an herbaceous perennial grass with a shapely form and gracefully arching stems. It brings an extremely fine and delicate texture to the garden composition and should be used to full effect.
This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. Deer don't particularly care for this plant and will usually leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.
Ginger Love Fountain Grass is recommended for the following landscape applications;
- Accent
- Mass Planting
- Rock/Alpine Gardens
- General Garden Use
- Container Planting
Planting & Growing
Ginger Love Fountain Grass will grow to be about 26 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years. As an herbaceous perennial, this plant will usually die back to the crown each winter, and will regrow from the base each spring. Be careful not to disturb the crown in late winter when it may not be readily seen!
This plant should only be grown in full sunlight. It is very adaptable to both dry and moist growing conditions, but will not tolerate any standing water. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for a low-water garden or xeriscape application. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.
Ginger Love Fountain Grass is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. It can be used either as 'filler' or as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, depending on the height and form of the other plants used in the container planting. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.