Fountain Grass
Pennisetum alopecuroides
Grown for fuzzy, bottlebrush plumes that arch like a fountain from late summer into winter, lovely massed or along walks, and deer leave it alone. It's easy in sun and most soils, flowering less in shade. Maryland bans its sale and Delaware and Virginia list it as invasive, so check your state's rules first.
- Mature size
- 2.5 × 2.5 ft
- 0.8 × 0.8 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 5b–9b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part sun
- Water
- Dry to moist
- Blooms
- Aug–Oct
Fountain Grass at its mature size
A mature Fountain Grass grows 2 to 3 feet tall and just as wide.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension.
Through the year
What Fountain Grass looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Dormant · Dec–Feb
Whole clump tan.
Below ground · Mar–Apr
Cut back; new shoots barely out of the ground.
In leaf · May–Jul
Dense fountain of narrow arching green leaves, no plumes.
In flower · Aug–Sep
Creamy pinkish-tan bottlebrush plumes arching above the leaves.
Fall · Oct–Nov
Foliage golden-yellow and tan, plumes tan.
Growing Fountain Grass
- Grows well in
- The Northeast, the Southeast, the Midwest, the Plains and Mountain West, the Pacific Northwest, and California.
- Good for
- Specimen, drought tolerant, and deer resistant
- Leaves
- Dies back in winter
- Native to
- East Asia and Australia
- State lists
Listed as invasive in Delaware, with sales banned from May 1, 2028. Delaware Invasive Plant List
Prohibited in Maryland, so it can’t be sold there. Maryland Prohibited Invasive Plant List
Listed as invasive in Virginia. Virginia Invasive Plant Species List
Spacing
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Fountain Grass, that’s about 2.5 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Fountain Grass in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other fountain grasses
Fountain Grass
Purple Fountain GrassAll drawn to the same scale.