Image – Flickr / Plant Right. No other grass exhibits quite the refinement of texture as this species. More than 200 grasses comprise the Stipa … Stipa tenuissima – Mexican Feather Grass Ornamental grass. Ah, right, then first job when it has finished for this year is to clear away all the old growth altogether. Plus it is extremely … The popular grasses Stipa gigantea and Stipa tennuisima, while having flowered much earlier in the year than late season grasses such as Miscanthus, look good throughout most of the autumn and into early winter - though they can begin to look a little tatty by the end of January, and sometimes before. Stipa Grass, Stipa: “Feather Dusters” Feather, needle, and spear. Stipa tenuissima is a neat, compact, perennial grass, bearing closely packed, stiff, thread-like stems forming a strongly horizontal shape. Stipa tenuissima (Mexican Feather Grass) is an exceptionally lovely and graceful ornamental grass which exhibits silvery-green thread-like leaves in late spring, that sway gracefully in the slightest breeze, delicately softening any landscapes. Cut the entire thing to 3”. (Check out this article from The Germinatrix with her take on pruning this Stipa!) In summer, masses of elegant pale feathery seed-heads are held above the foliage. The scientific name is Nassella tenuissima, although the former ( Stipa tenuissima ) is accepted as a synonym. It's definitely Stipa G - I have the original label! What are the characteristics of Stipa tenuissima ? ... Prune it back in later winter or early spring. It produces a mass of long, graceful, green foliage that grows in dense clumps. 4 Sep, 2008 . Mexican feather grass grows from one to three feet tall and wide. This is a herbaceous plant with a perennial cycle, that is, it lives for several years, originally from South America, found mainly in Mexico. Architectural, Beds and borders, Low Maintenance, Prairie planting, City, Cottage/Informal. And I mean down to ground level. Stipa tenuissima (Mexican feather grass) will reach a height of 1m and a spread of 0.5m after 2-5 years.. Suggested uses. Grow in full sun in medium to light, moderately fertile soil. These can be cut and dried when first opened for use in winter arrangements indoors. Mexican Feather Grass (Nassella or Stipa tenuissima) is a wildly popular ornamental grass used by home gardeners and landscape design professionals. These grasses form the genus Stipa and they’re the ones you can count on to sway in the gentlest breeze.Adding Stipa to the landscape guarantees movement, refinement, and even calm. Owdboggy . Nassella (Stipa) tenuissima - Mexican Feather Grass, Texas Needle Grass is native to the Soutwestern United States. Its bright green foliage resembles delicate filaments that arise in elegant, vase-like clumps and spill outward like a soft fountain. Mexican Feather Grass is loved for its graceful, delicate and fine texture – it grows out in a cascade like a beautiful fountain. The leaves do go browny, but the clump stays the same size. Nassella tenuissima/ Stipa tenuissima or Mexican feather grass usually gets pruned once yearly in September when they go kind of beige and dreadlock-y, and they come back gorgeously and make a fresh green winter accent for me. It is the accumulated old growth which is not helping your … Scientific: Nassella tenuissima (formerly Stipa tenuissima) Common: Silky thread grass, Mexican feather grass, Mexican needle grass, pony tails Family: Poaceae Origin: Dispersed widely on rocky slopes, dry open woods and dry prairies from New Mexico and Texas south through central Mexico. 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