Eragrostis - Love Grass: Planting, Growing and Caring

Botany and description

Eragrostis belongs to the Poaceae family, formerly called “grasses”. The genus includes around 350 species, often annual but sometimes perennial, distributed across the globe. The genus name Eragrostis is a contraction of Eros (love) and Agrostis (grass): hence the vernacular name Love Grass or Grass of Eros. Eragrostis or Love Grasses are ornamental grasses that mainly grow on disturbed, poor or sandy soils.

Eragrostis forms dense, tufted clumps with a weeping, fountain-like habit. The foliage consists of long, very fine green leaves. The foliage is normally evergreen in mild climates, but most often it dries out or disappears completely in winter. Note that while most species retain green foliage in autumn, Eragrostis curvula takes on bronze-yellow hues.

The inflorescence reaches over a metre high between July and October (depending on species) and forms a mist of panicles with small flattened spikelets ranging from green to pink and purple, almost black depending on the species. The inflorescences can be used in bouquets as they last a long time.

Eragrostis can be grown in perennial borders, as ground cover, in borders to highlight a bed, to cover a slope, in dry rockeries or wildflower meadows, and even in pots.

Eragrostis spectabilis

Our most beautiful varieties

Eragrostis spectabilis

Eragrostis spectabilis is a modest grass with a slightly tousled habit, featuring rough wild herb-like leaves, which produces an astonishing summer flowering of purple-pink spikelets in a misty display.

• Flowering time September to November
• Height at maturity 70 cm

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Eragrostis spectabilis Great Plains

Eragrostis spectabilis 'Great Plains' is a more compact form of the species. The clump of fine leaves reaches only 50 cm in height with a 40 cm spread.

• Flowering time September to November
• Height at maturity 50 cm

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Eragrostis curvula

Eragrostis curvula is a green summer grass that takes on bronze or yellow hues in autumn. In summer, it displays a flowering of very fine, dark green then almost black spikelets, gracefully curved, creating a misty effect.

• Flowering time August to October
• Height at maturity 60 cm

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Eragrostis trichodes

Eragrostis trichodes has a fountain-like habit, slightly collapsed under the weight of its incredible yet delicate amethyst-pink flowering.

• Flowering time August to October
• Height at maturity 90 cm

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Planting Eragrostis

Where to plant?

In their natural habitat, love grasses thrive in poor, sandy soils that are rather dry. In the garden, Eragrostis will grow in any soil as long as it is well-drained. These grasses tolerate drought remarkably well once established.

Love grasses should be planted in full sun.

When to plant?

Eragrostis should be planted in spring: between March and May.

How to plant?

• Loosen the soil well to a depth of about 20 centimetres;
• Remove the plant from its pot;
• Dig a hole about twice the size of the root ball;
• Love grasses require well-drained soil: feel free to mix in some gravel or clay pebbles with the soil used to fill the hole;
• Place the root ball in the centre of the hole;
• Backfill with the excavated soil (optionally mixed with some gravel if the soil is too compact) and gently firm around the clump with your fingers;
• Water to eliminate any potential air pockets between the soil and the roots.

Note: space your clumps 80 cm apart to allow for proper growth.

You can also plant Eragrostis in a pot. In this case, choose a porous terracotta pot with drainage holes. Fill the bottom with clay pebbles and use a well-draining substrate: a mix of half potting compost and half river sand will work well.

Eragrostis spectabilis and curvula

Maintenance

This ornamental grass requires very little maintenance.

Every 3-4 years, if the centre of the clump starts to dry out: you can lift it from the ground, remove the dead parts and divide the clump. Simply replant the divided sections.

Remember to water during the first summer, especially during heatwaves. After that, the plant will manage on its own.

If the foliage dries out in winter but doesn’t disappear, cut it back in March before new growth begins.

In pots, water when the compost is dry. Repot when roots emerge from the drainage holes, ideally in spring.

Diseases and Pests

The Love herb is not attacked by any disease or pest.

Eragrostis curvula

Propagation

By sowing

The plant self-seeds, without ever becoming invasive, however. You can collect the young clumps of Eragrostis and move them in spring to your desired location.

Please note: if you don’t want your grasses to self-seed, cut the flowering stems after flowering!

Sowing is possible under a cold frame in early spring (March). Sow in a substrate that is half compost and half sand, kept moist (watered, but not excessively). The young clumps can already be transplanted into their final position from May-June onwards.

By dividing clumps

Divide large clumps in spring, between April and June. Lift the clump from the ground using a garden fork. Remove dead or dry parts, then divide the clump with a knife or the edge of a spade. Even simpler, you can just separate the young clumps around the mother plant.

Association

The Love Grass should be paired with plants that enjoy the same growing conditions: very well-drained soil and a position in full sun.

In a dry rock garden

A few clumps of Purple Love Grass ‘Great Plains’ (Eragrostis spectabile) will add lightness and height to a carpet of Delosperma cooperi with mauve flowers that bloom from spring to late summer. The pretty pink flowering of the Creeping Sedum ‘Sunsparkler Lime Zinger’ will echo the pink of the Eragrostis inflorescence. Two or three Salvia greggii ‘Arctic Blaze Purple’ won’t go amiss and will provide us with flowering that spreads from May to October. Finally, a few Mexican Fleabane will fill the gaps in the rock garden by self-seeding abundantly (a trait shared with the grass).

Eragrostis ‘Great Plains’, Erigeron karvinskianus, Delosperma cooperii, Salvia gregii ‘Arctic Blaze Purple’ and Sedum ‘Sunsparkler Lime Zinger’

In a wildflower meadow at the end of the season

The idea is to create an area that looks as natural as possible with a few structural grasses with soft, airy flowering, along with some tall perennials with a “wild” appearance. Of course, this isn’t an exact copy of what you might find in nature, but more of an idealised version, a romanticised vision of an American prairie.

A few clumps of Eragrostis trichodes will happily accompany some Muhlenbergia capillaris, another American grass. It’s best to limit the number of different grass species to maintain clarity in the “meadow”. For flowering perennials, we’ll keep it simple and effective: Gaura lindheimeri ‘Summer Breeze’ (recently renamed by botanists as Oenothera lindheimeri) and Tall Verbena. The plant selection is deliberately limited for a more natural look, and of course, all the suggested plants are native to the American continent, love the sun, and withstand drought wonderfully.

Anecdotes

Eragrostis curvula is used in the United States to stabilise embankments along roads or railways.

Teff, a species of the genus Eragrostis (Eragrostis tef), is cultivated in the mountains of Ethiopia. This grass produces small grains and serves as the staple food for local populations. Attempts to replace teff with maize or wheat have ended in dismal failure: neither crop tolerates drought nor, paradoxically, periodically waterlogged soil.