Purple love grass
Eragrostis spectabilis · Poaceae
In late summer a low tuft of leaves vanishes under a haze of tiny, reddish-purple flowers, like a rosy mist lying on the ground.
- Size
- 16 in tall, 18 in wide
- Zones
- 5 to 9
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Early August to mid September
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Drift
A bed built around purple love grass
The planner designed this bed around purple love grass when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) naturalistic planting in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 715 that suit those conditions and its dry soil, and says below why purple love grass stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Purple love grass × 3, purple
- 2 Seaside daisy × 12, lavender
- 3 Sea thrift × 3, pink
- 4 Little bluestem 'The Blues' × 3, tan
- 5 False sunflower 'Summer Nights' × 3, yellow
- 6 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 7 Star of Persia × 4, purple
- 8 Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' × 3, purple
Why this plant
- Part of the matrix. The low fabric of grasses and groundcovers that the taller plants come up through.
- The only airy sprays. The others are daisies, globes and spires. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
- Part of the bed's structure. Shrubs and grasses keep their shape when the perennials die down. So does little bluestem 'The Blues'.
Why here
- At the back. At 16 in it is seen over seaside daisy (10 in) in front of it, and has nothing behind it to hide.
- A step in the back row. Next to little bluestem 'The Blues' (3 ft) and false sunflower 'Summer Nights' (3½ ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 3 plants in one group. Massed, one kind reads as a single shape. Scattered, it would look spotty.
Why now
- In flower for 7 weeks. From early August to mid September.
- Part of the bed's peak. With seaside daisy, little bluestem 'The Blues' and false sunflower 'Summer Nights' in early August: 4 kinds at once. No week has more.
- Stands through winter. Left uncut, it holds its shape until March, when the perennials have gone.
Planned as a naturalistic planting: low grasses and groundcovers, the matrix, make up 72% of the planted ground. Low plants run along 92% of the front edge: silver sage, sea thrift and seaside daisy. The flowering year starts with sea thrift in early May and ends with little bluestem 'The Blues' in early October.
The planner's own design check: 10 Excellent, 7 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where purple love grass goes in a border
At 16 in it belongs at the front of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is short (12 to 18 in).
Its job: drift. Planted in a small group of three or five, and repeated further along in the other number.
The effect is of coloured fog at ankle height. Plant it in groups at the front, where low sun will light it. It thrives on poor, dry soil.
- A haze of colour at the front of a dry bed
- Sandy, poor soil
- Meadow edges
What to plant with purple love grass
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Little bluestem: its blue-green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; tall enough (3 ft) to stand behind it; happy in the same dry soil.
- Butterfly weed: happy in the same dry soil.
- Sedum 'Autumn Joy': in flower together for six weeks, from mid August; bold leaves against its fine ones; happy in the same dry soil.
Questions about purple love grass
Does purple love grass need sun or shade?
Purple love grass grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants dry, sharply drained soil, on the lean side, with no feeding, and little watering once settled. Once settled in, it stands drought.
What zones does purple love grass grow in?
USDA zones 5 to 9. It is hardy to zone 5, which means it survives winter nights down to about −10 °F (−23 °C).
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does purple love grass flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers early August to mid September. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 5 | Early August to mid September |
|---|---|
| Zone 6 | Early August to mid September |
| Zone 7 | Early August to mid September |
| Zone 8 | Early August to mid September |
| Zone 9 | Late July to mid September |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should purple love grass be planted?
18 in (45 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is about its full width, so each plant keeps its own outline.
It grows 16 in (40 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many purple love grass plants do I need?
At 18 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 5 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 7 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 17 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as a group of three or five, with a second group further along in the other number.
In the bed above, the planner used three in one group.
Is purple love grass poisonous to dogs and cats?
No toxicity is recorded for dogs, cats, horses or people, according to NC State Extension.
"Not toxic" is not "edible": a pet that eats a lot of any plant can be sick.
Do deer eat purple love grass?
They may. NC State does not list it as resistant to deer or rabbits. Where they visit, protect it, or plant it among ones they avoid.
Will purple love grass spread?
It seeds itself about; the risk of it taking over is moderate. Self-seeds freely. Remove the spent flowers to limit seedlings.
What flowers after purple love grass?
Purple love grass is over by mid September. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Garden chrysanthemum: from mid September to late October, 24 in tall.
- October daphne: from mid September to late October, 8 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Meadow saffron: from mid September to mid October, 6 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
What does purple love grass look like in winter?
Purple love grass turns the colour of straw and, left uncut, stands through the winter, with seed for the birds. Cut it down in late winter, before the new shoots come up.
Is purple love grass good for bees and butterflies?
Purple love grass is visited by songbirds.
It is native to the United States and Canada.
In these guides
- Salt-tolerant plants for roadsides and coasts
- Plants that grow near black walnut
- Plants you can walk on
- Pet-safe plants for a sunny border
- Garden plants native to Canada
- Plants that feed garden birds
- Ornamental grasses under 3 feet
Every fact on record
- Type
- Grass
- Size
- 16 in (40 cm) tall, 18 in (45 cm) wide
- Plant
- 18 in (45 cm) apart
- Height class
- Short (12 to 18 in)
- Place in the bed
- Front
- Flowers
- Early August to mid September; airy sprays; purple
- Leaves
- Fine texture, herbaceous; green
- Shape
- Mounding, self-seeding
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 5 to 9
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Lean, dry and sharply drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
- Family
- Poaceae
- Comes from
- S. Canada to NE. Mexico
- Attracts
- Songbirds
- Stands up to
- Drought, heat, salt, poor soil, black walnut, pollution, foot traffic
Checked against NC State Extension. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.