Purple Fountain Grass (Pennisetum Rubrum) – 1 Gallon Pot

Attracts: Visual Attention, Birds

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.

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.

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. 

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.