Purple Fountain Grass
Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’
Plant Details
USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 9a-11 Find Your Zone
Plant Type: Ornamental Grass
Height at Maturity: 3-4′
Width at Maturity: 2-3′
Spacing: Space 30″ apart for mass planting; 5’+ for space between plants; Use 1 plant in a 16″ + size container
Spacing: Space 30″ apart for mass planting; 5’+ for space between plants; Use 1 plant in a 16″ + size container
Growth Habit / Form: Arching, Clumping, Upright
Growth Rate: Fast
Flower Color: Burgundy
Flower Size: 8-12″
Flower Type: Bottlebrush-like
Flowering Period: Late Spring, Summer, Fall
Foliage Color: Deep Burgundy Purple
Fragrant Foliage: No
Sun Needs: Full Sun or Mostly Sun
Water Needs: Average
Soil Type: Clay (Amended), Loam, Sand, Silt
Soil Drainage: Well Drained Moist to Moderately Dry
Soil pH: 5.5 – 7.5
Maintenance / Care: Very Low
Resistances: Deer – more info, Disease, Drought, Heat, Humidity, Insect
Attracts: Visual Attention, Birds
Description
One of the most showy of any ornamental grasses we grow and offer, Purple Fountain Grass is one of a few that displays deep purple foliage throughout the season. In Zones 9 to 11 it is a hardy perennial plant. In Zones north of 9 it is an annual (lives 1 year or less) primarily used as a centerpiece or background in landscape and flower beds or container gardens, which can be brought indoors during winter. The plant itself forms an upright clump of deep burgundy-purple leaves 2.5 to 3 feet tall or so depending on climate. In late spring or early summer, arching, bottlebrush-like burgundy flowers on this stems rise above the foliage.
Landscape & Garden Uses
In our gardens here in north-central Georgia, we use Purple Fountain Grass as a seasonal accent plant in many spots throughout our gardens. We like using it as a centerpiece in annual flower beds surrounded with pink, lavender, white, yellow or orange flowers, such as petunias. It is also a perfect centerpiece in combination container gardens 16 inches or more in diameter surrounded by colorful flowering annual plants such as Million Bells (Calibrachoa). Where winter hardy, Purple Fountain Grass is ideal for an accent or in groupings or mass plantings in landscape borders and home foundation plantings. A fine addition to ornamental grass gardens ad purple theme gardens.
Suggested Spacing: 30 inches apart for mass plantings; 5 feet or more apart for space between plants
How To Measure Total Square Feet Of A Planting Area
How Many Plants Needed To Cover A Planting Area?
Note: For our customers who live and garden north of USDA Zone 9a, where this Pennisetum variety is not reliably winter hardy, you’ll be happy to know it can be grown in containers that can be brought indoors during winter and placed back outside when temperatures warm up in spring.
Growing Preferences
Purple Fountain Grass is very easy to grow in most any moist but well-drained soil of average to low fertility and full to mostly sun for deepest foliage color. Established plants are quite drought tolerant. Constantly soggy soil or standing water is problematic.
Helpful Articles
Click on a link below to find helpful advice from our experts on how to plant and care for Pennisteum Fountain Grass.
How To Plant Pennisetum Fountain Grasses
How To Fertilize, Water & Prune Pennisetum Fountain Grasses
How To Measure Square Feet of A Planting Area
Determining How Many Plants To Fill A Planting Area
Plant Long & Prosper!
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Wow Planted 5 one quart sized plants in April With no care over the summer , I return in September and these plants are over 4 feet high and blooming. The plants are getting nine hours of sunlight each day on a hill side.——————————————Thanks for the kind words and awesome review! We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy them for years to come! 🙂 Beth Steele | WBG
I was pleasantly surprised when I received my purple fountain grass order. First, the packaging was excellent! The plants arrived moist, healthy and completely intact. And the grasses were more mature than what I was expecting (which I appreciate).
Will order again from Wilson Bros again for sure!——————————————————————————————-We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy them for years to come! Thanks for the kind words and great review! 🙂 Beth Steele | WBG
Will order again from Wilson Bros again for sure!——————————————————————————————-We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy them for years to come! Thanks for the kind words and great review! 🙂 Beth Steele | WBG
Quite pleased with the live, healthy plants I received. Good root system on every plant. Will plan on using Wilson Brothers again next year.—————————————————————–We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy them for years to come! Thanks for the kind words and great review! 🙂 Beth Steele | WBG
We don’t have many choices in the area we live, so I was looking online for purple fountain grass to plant in pots. This website was recommended through southernlivingplants.com. My plants arrived very quickly and were healthy and in great shape. They are thriving beautifully. I will definitely use Wilson Bros. again.——————————We are so glad you are pleased with your purchase! Thanks for the great review! Beth | WBG 🙂























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