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Stipa Gigantea

wcgypsy
12 years ago

Looking for Stipa Gigantea...aka/ Giant Feather Grass, aka/ Giant Oat Grass. I'd rather not have to order this. Has anyone seen it available anywhere in SoCal? TIA.

Comments (10)

  • hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
    12 years ago

    Gypsy, I was just in Lowe's of all places today, and there was a new hybrid of Oat Grass. I'm going back and buying some to put up on my slope. I'll let you know if it's Stipa gigantea. Doubtful, but it looked really, really nice. Love seeing the grasses sway in the wind.

    Patty S.

  • wcgypsy
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    It may be 'Sirocco' which is a dwarf...I've run into this one quite a few times lately. It seems to be in all the nurseries, so that's likely. Thanks for thinking of it....

  • bahia
    12 years ago

    I seldom see stipa gigantea at retail nurseries at height of summer, they don't tend to ship well in bloom. You'd be better off having your local nursery order them in, or wait until fall.

  • hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
    12 years ago

    Gypsy, do you know if either the 'Sirocco' or gigantea varietes need to be cut back in the winter? To me, this is always one of the drawbacks to designing with grasses - so many of them need to be chopped back to nothing during the winter.

    Patty S.

  • wcgypsy
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanks, Bahia..you're right, didn't think of that. I may just have to put out a call for seeds.
    Patty, stipa gigantea does not need cutting back like the pennisetums do. I love the grasses, so I do have to put up with the cutting back, but it's a chore on my pennisetum setaceums.

  • hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
    12 years ago

    That's good to know, gypsy. I hate having to chop back my pennisetums - I have several Pennisetum rubrums, which are pretty, common, but pretty. For about 1/2 the year. Then we have to whack them back. So frustrating. I think I'm going to consider replacing them with another grass. Just have to figure out which grass would be a good replacement. I like the color, it's a nice contrast to the greens and silvers I have, but I hate hacking them back every year.

    Patty S.

  • wcgypsy
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    And to make it worse, it's actually been recommended (Sunset)to cut them back twice a year...lol..I didn't do that this last year, but a friend did (last Sept)and hers were up and looking much better than mine, much earlier. I hate to admit that a few of mine didn't get cut back at all this year and now I feel okay about doing it in Sept...lol.
    With the stipa gigantea, I read that you would only have to cut back the flowering stalks and clean the leaves out a bit....my pennisetums are substantial clumps and not fun to cut back, but I do like them. I need to see about getting some Karl Foerster also. If I could find suitable grasses for a meadow, that the rabbits wouldn't gobble before it has a chance to get established, and that wouldn't go brown most of the year and be a fire danger, then I think I would take out a lot of stuff and do a meadow. Love those grasses!

  • bahia
    12 years ago

    I seldom use pennisetum rubrum anymore because it has such a long down season here to the north, or I only use it as an annual. Some of my favorite grassses would include leymus condnsatus 'canyon prince', carex tumulicola, stipa arundinacea, muhlenberia spp, festuca californica, and deschampsia caespitosa. All are easy care evergreengrasses/sedges that don't need cutting back annually.

  • hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
    12 years ago

    The Cordyline 'Festival Grass' makes a good substitute for the red Pennisetum in some locations. No cutting back required, and it's even more burgundy.

  • wcgypsy
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    The problem, of course, while searching for one plant is all of the others you come across in your travels. While running errands this a.m., I stopped in the nursery at Lowe's *just* in case they might have the stipa. They didn't, but I did pick up a variegated chasmanthium, Chasmanthium latifolium 'River Mist', Miscanthus 'Gold Bar', and Pennisetum setaceum rubra 'Fireworks'. Yes, it means more to be cut back, but what can I say? I was seduced by their charms.....