Plant of the Week: Pennisetum

Plant of the Week: Pennisetum

When you’re putting together a garden, all five senses count. Sight, scent and taste are provided easily with a few pretty, perfumed roses and a vegetable patch: but the senses of touch and sound are often forgotten.

Add those extra dimensions to your garden with Pennisetum, also known as Fountain Grass, one of the most graceful of all the grasses. Its soft, arching flowerheads invite you to stroke them, and they sway and whisper in the slightest breeze. Plant them in well-drained soil and give them a sunny spot, and prune back hard in March to encourage a fresh flush of new growth in spring.