Deschampsia cespitosa | tufted hair grass
How to grow one of my favourite wild grasses, the loveable Deschampsia
I guess I would be pretty chuffed if my hair looked like Deschampsia cespitosa, known as the Tufted Hair grass. I haven’t been able to find out exactly where the name ‘tufted hair grass’ comes from so I’m going to guess it is based on its tufted, light and airy hair-like growth.
It’s one of the first grasses I ever grew and I’ve included tufted hair grass in our garden and many of my garden designs ever since. Looks wise it is perhaps one of the ultimate garden grasses because it goes through a series of changes across the year in synchrony with other garden plants.
First it forms neat hummocks of green in spring, followed by silvery flower spikes in early summer when they first emerge, that then open into airy fluff before turning a buff brown for most of summer into autumn. It’s a dream companion for most flowers. But there are downsides worth knowing that I’ll discuss below.
Deschampsia cespitosa is indigenous to most of the northern hemisphere, in fact, it grows naturally in the wild across much of the world. As you might expect with such a widespread species, various different forms and sub species have evolved in different habitats all subtly different. Including Deschampsia cespitosa subsp. cesipitosa, which is a little smaller than the parent species and Deschampsia cespitosa subsp. parviflora with narrower, greener leaves. Differences are small but worth exploring if you become a fan.