Elliot's Love Grass Eragrostis elliottii
General Information
Hardiness: Zones 6-10
Height: 3 feet tall, 3 feet wide
Light: Full sun to light shade
Flowers: June to August
Flower Color: White
Flower Characteristics: Semi-showy
Growth Habit: Clump Forming
Growth Rate: Fast
Drought Tolerance: High; does not require
any supplemental water once established.
Soils: Moist to wet, well-drained or occasionally
inundated freshwater or brackishsoils.
Nutritional Requirements: Low; it grows
in nutrient poor soils.
Salt Water Tolerance: Low; does not tolerate
long-term flooding by salt or brackish
water
Salt Wind Tolerance: High; can tolerate
moderate amounts of salt wind without injury.
Hardy Perennial
Elliot's love grass is found among flatwoods,
sandhills, and prairies from summer through
fall. A warm season grass, it is native
to the Southeastern US (Texas, Alabama,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida,
North and South Carolina). It is a low,
graceful, fine-textured grass with beautiful,
silvery-blue leaves and masses of tiny,
delicate flower spikes. It forms clumps
of narrow powder-blue foliage that rises
to about 18-24" tall (to 3’ with
ample irrigation). Clumps spread outward
slowly with short rhizomes. The 3 foot
tall flowers stalks rise in mid to late
spring, opening into a buff colored haze
of flowers that lasts into fall and winter.
Plant in full sun to light shade in well
drained soil. Good in dry, sandy soil but
can tolerate a fair amount of irrigation.
Thought to be hardy to -10° F. Good
as a specimen plant or massed in a border
planting with contrasting colored and textured
foliage. It can be used in a natural lawn
with only one mowing required in the spring
- not tolerant of foot traffic. Attractive
to birds and butterflies.
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