Homegrown Habitat, September 2025: Grasses

Landscape designer Sarah Middeleer discusses native grasses for the fall garden. Write to Sarah at homegrown@ctaudubon.org. 

Lately I’ve become obsessed with native grasses that bear purple or pink blossoms. Maybe this is because their ethereal blooms are such a contrast to the schoolbus-yellow flowers and worn, floppy foliage of the season—a cool jazz alternative to the honkytonk late-summer decadence.

When seen en masse, the plummy flowers of these warm-season, clump-forming grasses are mesmerizing. But their ecological value is also high, because the flowers develop into seeds that feed songbirds and small mammals, and their foliage hosts many moth and butterfly caterpillars. They are all deer resistant. 

As you whiz down the highway in late summer, you might enjoy the smoky haze of purple love grass (Eragrostis spectabilis), for it thrives in sandy soil and exposed conditions. 

When not in bloom though, this grass is perhaps not as loveable – its foliage is somewhat coarse (yet—more importantly—is used by ground-nesting birds and skipper butterfly larvae). But by August we have forgotten its imperfections, enchanted by those lovely mauve plumes. In October they are replaced by pink and purple fruits that linger until November. The highly nutritious seeds are dispersed when the seedheads snap off and roll along the ground like tumbleweeds.

Purple love grass grows up to 14 inches high. It is tolerant of drought, salt, and pollution and thrives in lean, well drained soil, making it suitable for roadside plantings and the unfortunately named hell strips. It is also effective when planted along walkways or in large drifts in exposed, rocky areas. Consider growing it near fall-blooming asters and white snakeroot—but let it have its own space. Purple love grass doesn’t fare well in tight quarters with other plants. 

Purpletop, also known as grease grass (Tridens flavus), bears plumes of reddish-purple flowers and seeds from August to November. The oil-rich, deep-purple seeds feed many songbirds. 

Purpletop grows three to five feet tall. It takes full to part sun and medium to dry soils, from sandy and rocky to clayey—even highly acidic—and tolerates drought and salt. Young purpletop plants are susceptible to weed pressure. The foliage is richly colored in spring and hosts numerous butterfly and moth larvae, as well as providing valuable wildlife cover year-round.

In fields or meadows, woodland edges, or along sunny driveways, drifts of purpletop in bloom create a wash of soft color. With nearby goldenrods, asters, and native sunflowers, purpletop would contribute to a richly colored fall setting highly valuable to wildlife.

Prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepsis) is endangered in seven states, including Connecticut. Wild populations have been found only in New Haven county. It grows in thin soils, exposed woodland ledges, and on trap rock. (The East Rock and West Rock ridges of New Haven are trap, a type of igneous rock.) 

This grass forms mounds of finely textured, arching leaves to 15 inches high. The open, branching flower panicles in shades of pinkish-brown rise 24 to 36 inches and bloom August to October. Prairie dropseed flowers are pungently aromatic. The foliage turns golden orange in fall and bronze in winter, remaining attractive until spring when it can be cut back. 

If planted from seed, prairie dropseed can take up to four years to reach flowering maturity and thus is usually planted from plugs or division. Even then it grows slowly; but it lives a long time if established in a suitable location. Sparrows and juncos, among other songbirds, eat the seeds.

Use prairie dropseed as a ground cover for hot, dry areas, or for slopes where erosion needs to be controlled. This grass is very attractive where its cascading foliage can drape over low stone walls or rocky outcrops.

If the three preceding grasses might be likened to cool jazz, then the fourth—pink muhly, or pink hair, grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris)—is the punk rocker of the crowd. Its shock of magenta locks can be astonishing—if only you can get the plant to live up to its hype.

Like prairie dropseed, pink muhly grass is also endangered in Connecticut and has also been found growing wild only in only New Haven County. It too is associated with trap rock, as well as pine barrens. It prefers full sun and coarse or sandy, medium-to-dry soils but also clay soils. It is tolerant of salt, heat, humidity, and drought. Pink muhly grass responds well to controlled burning, which increases seed production.

Pink muhly grass grows two feet to three feet high and wide. Its rosy flowers bloom in early- to mid-fall, and the tan seed plumes are attractive in winter. Its seeds feed birds, and the clumping foliage serves as cover for many birds and animals. Its leaves turn copper in fall.

When pink muhly grass is grown in drifts, its flowers appear to float like fluffy pink clouds over the foliage. It is another candidate for growing with fall-blooming asters in shades of pink, purple, and white. 

Although the literature says pink muhly grass is easy to grow, a few gardening friends have told me that they’ve had limited success with it; either it didn’t come back the following year or simply didn’t thrive. I will be planting some this fall in the dryest part of my garden, keeping fingers crossed that it will express its full punk instincts there.

Do you grow pink muhly grass or any of the others in this article? Please let us know about your experience with them, or any other gardening question or experience you’d like to share: 

Resources
Purple Love Grass

Eragrostis spectabilis (Purple Lovegrass, Purple Love Grass, Tumble Grass) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox

Plant Finder – Eragrostis spectabilis

Purple lovegrass A-

 

Purpletop

Tridens flavus (Grease Grass, Purpletop, Purple Top, Purpletop Tridens, Redtop, Redtop Tridens, Tall Redtop, Tall Redtop Tridens) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox

Tridens flavus Purpletop | Prairie Moon Nursery

Purpletop (Tridens flavus cupreus)

Purple Top | Hamilton Native Outpost

 

Prairie Dropseed

How to Grow and Care for Prairie Dropseed

Sporobolus heterolepis (Prairie Dropseed, Prairie Drop Seed) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox

 

Pink Muhly Grass

https://www.rareroots.com/products/muhlenbergia-capillaris?utm_campaign=gs-2019-01-13&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign&msclkid=a9e8aa7563be16d23474c2bde9c05ba5

Muhlenbergia capillaris (Gulf Muhly, Hairgrass, Muhlygrass, Muhly Grass, Mule Grass, Pink Hair Grass, Pink Muhly, Pink Muhly Grass, Purple Muhly) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox

Plant Finder – Muhlenbergia capillaris

Hairawn Muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris) Plant Fact Sheet

The Plant Library: Pink Muhly Grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris)

Muhlenbergia capillaris (hair-awned muhly): Go Botany

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_rock