It sure is worth the try. I have never brought my grass inside. This past year, I planted a "hardy pampas" grass, but I really don't believe it is the real thing. I planted the Cord., a few years ago, and it was beautiful, but did not bloom, and died during the winter here in southern Ontario.

I would be MOST interested, in seeing the results of your experiment, should you decide to go ahead with it.

There is a posting somewhere about a year or so ago, where someone from the west had Cord., and covered it and managed to keep it out doors. I believe he put bales of hay around it, filled the cavity with leaves, tied a tarp around the hole thing, and I don't recall the rest. He posted a picture of it ,and it was truly amazing!

It is possible, but perhaps not likely, that you will get an conclusive answer to your question in this forum. Perhaps from gardengal48, or even JakeÂthose two would be best bets.

But I will give you an authoritative Canadian resource who can and will answer you as well or better than any one else. His name is Jim Brockmeyer, and he is the owner of Bluestem Nursery in British Columbia (zone 3, inland, north of Spokane WA). Excellent nursery (although they do not sell Pampas Grass), and Brockmeyer is an expert grower of Orn. Grasses.

Another potentially knowledgeable resource is Earthly Pursuits in Maryland. They are the direct outlet for Kurt Bluemel, noted horticulturalist who specializes in O.Grasses; they do sell Pampas Grasses. They might not be as helpful as Bluestem, however. earthlypursuits.net/main.html

A third resource is Norm Hooven at Limerock Nursery in zone 5 Pennsylvania. limerockgrasses.com

Be concise and Good Luck. Let us know what you find out. ItÂs a unique and interesting question you have.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bluestem

It is an evergreen grass so does not go through a similar type of dormancy as deciduous or herbaceous OG's. I would be very skeptical of your ability to keep it alive indoors over winter but your chances would be greatly improved if you had a cool greenhouse at your disposal. It will need light and can take some temps below freezing fine but not for extended periods. Apparently true pampas grass, Cortaderia selloana, is quite a bit more hardy than most references indicate - a number of posters here report growing it successfully as far north as zone 5, but zone 3 is definitely pushing it.

Thank you all so much for your replies, it is much appreciated!
Jroot, I will keep you posted next winter on my success/failure. Notice I put failure last! lol

BruMeta, what great resources! Thank you! I will be concise when I contact Jim Brockmeyer. I find all you wonderful GardenWeb folks truly the best!

Gardengal - thank you for letting me know that this is an evergreen grass. This is indeed the seed I have, cortaderia selloana. I have written the seed company to ask why they indicate on the pkg that it is a perennial without providing a zone. I do have a greenhouse but it is never in use in the winter months. Too costly! I'm certain my only hope is to bring it in the house for the winter but with the heat on all the time it gets very dry! Don't know if this matters. I'll give it a shot at any rate, given that it is certain death otherwise!

Once again, thank you all so much for the information!

Joanne

Joanne, about 5 yrs ago I grew Pampas grass in a pot and it did very well, but no blooms. I brought it inside for the winter and put it in a dark cellar and left it. It died.

Last winter and this winter I have been working on learning how to keep Pennisetum Rubrum alive. Despite what I have read about giving it barely enough water to keep it alive I have found that it perishes very quickly unless reasonably well watered. It must NOT dry out. I lost all of them last winter. This year I have one that is thriving. It has been by a south-facing sliding glass door. Quite cool at times and not very much sun here in the winter. I have other pots of the same plant in places where they receive less light and they are not doing very well, though they are alive. Some dried out and perished. So far I have 5 out of 9 plants still alive.

I have a Cortaderia selloana Icalma (a shorter, hardier version) that survived two winters ago in the ground. I mulched it carefully, with a bag of leaves. But it sure didn't grow last year. This past fall I didn't mulch it because we had such wet weather and I figured it would rot under mulch. I am hoping it that if it survives, it will feel like growing this year. Maybe I moved it too many times last spring.....

Well Rooted,

Thank you for sharing your results with me! I didn't think I was alone in trying to over winter Pampas. lol

I too have a south facing patio door which I'll try. Mine would get much cooler than yours I'm sure, we can get much colder weather than what I assume you get in the winter.

I'm looking forward to giving it a whirl! Thanks again!

Joanne

Joanne, I have two pots of pampas now in the basement, where it is quite cool, in front of a west window. They are watered as needed, like once a week maybe. Other winters I have kept some in a completely dark and cool(45 to 50 degrees) room where they survived OK and surprisingly they needed regular watering.
One year I buried the whole plant below the frostline and when I dug it up the following spring it was green, fresh and alive. Maybe that's not the same as going dormant but it is a survival trait it posesses. Anyhow, if it's cold enough it doesn't grow.
You'll probably do better to plant it in the ground the following spring because it takes a really big pot for a really big grass. Though I have seen the variety 'Pumilla' look great in a pot, with about 20 plumes. This is a dwarf type about five feet tall.

Good luck with this and keep us posted.

Every post I have read about trying to overwinter Pampas Grass in a basement or garage has ended with the same scenerio....it did not survive. I hope you will write a new ending to this story, but prepare for "they lived happily ever after....or in this case...not"

Good luck !!!

Hey all:
Over wintered pampus (white), pedastutum, ,and bunnytail, all are doing well and have been cut back one already. purple millet, bunny tail most losses, pampus grass the best success..I potted them up, put them in cold store room ,dim light ,very little water....eay as pie....... no choice I'm in zone 2 ;o)

wagner, a number of OG's are commonly referred to as "pampas grass". Do you know the botanical name of yours? It would be helpful to the readers to know if it was true pampas, Cortaderia, which has a reputation for being much more tender and far less hardy in northern climes than the so-called "hardy" pampas or Erianthus ravennae.

I'll check the tag when I go to the shop and get back to you
Gayle

gardengal
Well checked the marker in the pampas grass, and it's pink pampas cortaderia, The clumps were very large when I dug them up. they didn't have plumes this year but did get about 5 ft tall,and razor sharp leaves that can cut. I lifted 6 clumps, the rootball barely fit in 4 gal pots. I have cut back new growth twice already since Jan, trying to keep them cool so they don't get going too early,

Gayle

Well, there's a success story for you!! Well done - you apparently have provided the right conditions to tide them over during winter. Hope they keep doing as well once back outside. Be sure to harden them off before taking them directly outside in late spring.

I would also like to order a gallon-size pot of Pampas Grass Sunningdale Silver (Cortaderia selloana Sunningdale Silver). I would be happy if I could just get it to grow and treat it as an annual. How much growth could I expect out of that size plant in one season? I suppose it is wishful thinking to expect it to look like the photos in all its glory but that is the mind of a gardener, right? Or at least those of us that are new gardeners. Hehe.

I would plant this on the south side of my house in the most sunny spot and would even consider trying to winter over if it does well. While we do get some bitterly cold temps our last few winters have been quite mild for Nebraska. Any comments on trying to use this grass for a burst of drama during this summer? Will it work?

Zolablue, where abouts in Nebraska are you? I am in Fremont. I have Pampas grass growing here, and it has made it through the 5 years I've been in this home. As well as Karly Rose which I was told was not likely to make it through the winters. I planted it last year, and last fall I covered it with mulch, and put a rose cone (weighted down)over it. It did make it. But, like you said, and I agree, last winter was a very mild one for us.
Leslie

Hi, Leslie, I'm in Omaha so we're darn close to each other. :o) Wow, so are you growing the variety I mentioned? I don't really know anything about pampas grass. I have some maidenhair and zebra grasses but nothing like this. I'm posting the picture of the one I want to order which is listed at zone 7 and why I thought it could possibly be treated as an annual if it grows enough. What do you think?

I looked up Karly Rose not being familiar with it and found a zone 6 rating so that is pretty cool you've kept it over 5 years.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cortaderia selloana Sunningdale Silver

Oh wow, that is really pretty. The Pampas here is not that dense yet. One of the other homeowners here had it in their yard, and wanted to remove it so they dug it up and planted it in our park area. I live in a townhome development. It looks really nice when it is plume. I am sure if you'd like to come dig some up, they wouldn't mind. It is quite tall. Probably 8-9 feet.
The Karley Rose I got last year, and the Pampas grass is the one that has made it the 5 years that I have lived here.
Leslie

Karley Rose is generally listed as hardy to zone 5, though Pennisetum orientale is only hardy to zone 6, so it is hardier than the species.

I live in Western Pa and planted 3 kinds of Pampas grass,Japanese blood grass,which is finally comming up,purple fountain grass,not coming up and the other one I can not find the name. I am still looking. It was supposed to grow to 6-8 feet and have white blooms and also some pink ones. They were all planted around the begining of June and the whit and pink ones,grew to about 5 feet tall,but no blooms. I am hunting for the name so when I find it I will psot back.

Well, I took the plunge and ordered the pampas so will let you know how it goes this summer, if this thread is still around. Keep your fingers crossed. It will be a fun experiment even if it dosen't work out.

We planted our cortaceria selloana / pampas grass last spring. It grew great about 5 feet tall and wide, it was planted as a screen. we planted 8 of them. this year we trimmed them back to about 6inches tall and they are about 12 inches wide in march. It is now may and we have no growth, they are still brown, and no green. Someone said they might be dormant? Please help us. thanks firmom

Last winter I overwintered 4 varigated pampas grass. (cortaderia) They spent the summer outside in pots and in the fall I had access to a local heated greenhouse where they kept them all winter. Lots of light and more or less regular watering. 2 of the four bloomed around Christmas, the other two did not. They are back outside in their same pots once again. I should probably uppot them but am not feeling that ambitious right now, too many other projects.

hi, is zone 6 too cold for pampas grass?

Zone 7 was too cold last year, and it was a mild winter. I had a dozen young clumps in the ground, and only one came back this year, and it looks peaked.

I bought a tiny little pink pampas grass plant last year (ebay) which I put in a 5 gallon pot. I wintered it in a south window. I watered it on the same schedule as most of my other houseplants...it didn't grown during this time, but it didn't die either. Come spring it went outside and in just the last few weeks it has started growing like crazy and is taller, wider, and generally more healthy looking than last year. Will bring it in again this winter and hopefully every year it will get bigger and maybe even bloom.

Did you cut it back? I'm wondering about the same thing, I have a pampas grass that won't survive a MB winter so I want to try to over winter it in the house too

I bought a pampas grass from Victoria, BC this spring and planted it in my garden in Fernie, BC, where we have deep snow falls and cold temps, just taking a chance that it will survive without digging it up and storing it. Should I cut it back ?

Wait until spring. All that foliage may help but I'm not sure it will survive your cold.

It always amuses me, since Cortaderia is on the invasive list in the western US to see people struggle to grow it. It's impressive I admit (I see a fair amount of it here) but not all that, it falls over with wind and rain, etc, and most homeowners that have it hate it (due to the maintenance and the razor-sharp leaf edges).

I long ago decided it wasn't on my grow list, I prefer grasses that are less than 3 feet high and tend to stick with native ones.

Only on the invasive list in CA - not in OR or WA. And not in B.C., either. I live by the beach and pampas grass is a very common beachside planting. Holds up extremely well to our wind and rains.

Western here, doesn't mean NW, but rather New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, etc :)

I see wind 'injuries' here a lot...and it really ruins the whole season (if the plume is broken/bent/laying on ground).

Hi, I'm going to be trying it too this year, not sure if I should cut it down or what though, any recommendations?

Where Cortaderia is hardy, it is evergreen so does not require an annual haircut. In fact, it looks bad if you do and will likely never plume properly. Here, is it only cut back infrequently and never to the ground........mostly just trimmed around the periphery to keep tidy and remove wayward or winter tattered blades.

Actually I see the clumps burned in early spring here often, doesn't SEEM to affect them? They usually look dead and ragged by spring here.

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it. I decided to cut it back and dig it up, put it in a big pot of soil and watered it, I’m going to try putting it in a south window and hope for the best

I live in North Idaho & it gets plenty cold here. I buy my pampas grass from this place & so far have had good luck with it returning every spring.I have 2 planted along side my Koi pond and they are very large now.I have not covered them at all just cut them back. Zone 5-10. https://www.4seasonsnurseries.com/5324-white-pampas-grass

With rather heavy mulching (I prefer rubber mulch) and using my house to block the north wind, I have successfully gotten Cortaderia (ONLY Cortaderia is pampas grass people; the others are just various ornamental grasses) through many Zone 6 winters in southwestern PA (Pittsburgh area). In fact, the 2019-2020 winter was so mild that the pampas grasses remained totally evergreen for the first time ever and was followed by the most blooms ever this summer and autumn. Don't just put mulch around the outside perimeter; cover the crown as well. Don't cut down the old growth (and only if brown) until spring, as they provide additional insulation. If you can plant on the southern exposure this, of course, is also helpful. I have had success with many varieties of Cortaderia but have never tried pink pampas grass which is supposedly the least cold hardy. I simply don't have any good planting spots available to try this one. Good luck.