I adore this native grass (Stipa ramosissima), it is a local Illawarra species and I have found it hard to source but whenever I find it somewhere I grab a few as I can find a home for them in no time!

I do apologise for the glut of photos in this post but I would love to see it used more often in gardens, it makes a great replacement to the exotic Miscanthus species that can easily get out of control here.

Stipa ramosissima grows to approximately 1.5 metre high x 1.5 metres wide and has an extremely soft weeping habit and lovely straw coloured seed heads, the leaves come up in almost bamboo like clumps of lime green.

It will grow well in a part shade to full shade position as it is found naturally in NSW Eucalypt forest in moist gullies. It will withstand dry periods and temporary inundation due to floods, however I have experimented with pruning it to the ground and it did not come back at all 🙁

Stipa ramosissima can be used as a tall vase-shaped feature plant or as a mass planting with darker foilaged species. I love the way the dark almost black trunks of the ironbarks are set off by its golden seed heads, I hope to see it used more often! Here is one last photo 😉

Oh and I also talked a little about it here.