From a distance Stipa gigantea looks like a golden fountain.
Masses of airy flowers suspended on fine filaments glint in the light.
Wordless Wednesday : Hanging by a Thread
08 Wednesday Jun 2016
Posted in Ornamental grasses
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Such a spectacular display shown so clearly, looks lovely Kate
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It’s hard not to love this grass, even people who say they ‘don’t like grasses’ melt when they see it looking like this. I spend a lot of time admiring it at this time of year, as a robust evergreen it does it all by itself which makes it even more marvellous to me.
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I agree Kate they are fab but do you find that they can take a couple of years to really get going?
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Yes I’d agree, as with lots of grasses, stipa do tend to ‘sleep, creep then leap’ over the first three years. Getting them going from seed I notice their root systems are quite delicate in the first-second year and they don’t flower much if at all until their second-third summer. Optimum conditions (sun, drainage and space) help.
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Sleep creep leap is a very good description.
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I don’t know who came up with up, but it is very apt.
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Aren’t they wonderful? I noticed that they were in flower on Monday.
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Indeed, they are one of the showiest grasses we grow in the UK. It’s interesting to know that they are so reliably early and ‘on time’ across the country regardless of the disparate weather we’ve been enjoying.
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Wow!
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I love this grass, it looks wonderful sparkling in the sunlight. And you have a whole hedge of it, how lovely.
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I’m pleased you like this grass too, it is a stunner. They ended up here in a dry, stony, sunny spot by chance and to my delight and astonishment they have thrived. They are so happy the gravel is full of seedlings, I have about 40 seedlings on the go … and nowhere to put them!
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Gosh what a stunning performance. One of mine flowered about a month ago (for some odd reason) but it gave me a taste of what’s to come. Yes gold filaments dancing in the breeze.
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What a fabulous description, so apt. They started flowerin, as you describe, in early to mid May, they are always one of the first to flower here on the Welsh borders. The ‘flowers’ have only just opened from their needle-like sheaths this week.
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You have placed your Stipa fantastically; they look absolutely wonderful.
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As you know, Stipa gigantea is simply marvellous grass. I think they are worth finding, or even creating, the right sunny, well drained spot for them to put on a stunning show. A dark background, in this case a chantry pine, is such a bonus.
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Kate, is this your garden? Its so beautiful, I love Stipa but only have one, this looks fantastic en masse. Your last photo is so interesting too, the filaments are wonderful caught in the sunlight.
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Yes, this is my grassy garden full of joyous, rampant plants that know no bounds. I love the minute detail of plants, their mechanisms can be so cunningly designed and so intricate.
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Amazing closeup photo Kate.
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Thanks, Brian!
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What an amazing picture of yet another of Life’s amazing natural phenomena!
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The flowering parts of this ‘giant oat’ grass are larger than most others (I grow), so easier to capture. Before now, I’ve never quite been in the right place at the right time to snap them like this.
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Certainly right place and time for this one!
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Magical!!
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