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Graceful Grasses® Fiber Optic Grass Isolepis (Scirpus) cernua

Flower Season
  • Spring
  • Summer
Mature Size
14" 14" 36cm 36cm
Height: 10" - 14"
Spread: 10" - 14"
Height: 25cm - 36cm
Spread: 25cm - 36cm
  • 10 - 14 Inches
    10 - 12 Inches
    10 - 14 Inches
    25cm - 36cm
    25cm - 30cm
    25cm - 36cm

    Features

    Bright green grasslike plant with small fluffy flowers at the stem tips, making this fiber optic grass a unique grass like plant with white tips.

    Award Winner
    Heat Tolerant
    Deadheading Not Necessary
    Water Plant
    Grass: 
    Grass
    Native to North America

    Characteristics

    Plant Type: 
    Annual
    Height Category: 
    Short
    Garden Height: 
    10 - 14 Inches 25cm - 36cm
    Spacing: 
    10 - 12 Inches 25cm - 30cm
    Spread: 
    10 - 14 Inches 25cm - 36cm
    Flower Colors: 
    White
    Flower Shade: 
    White
    Foliage Colors: 
    Green
    Foliage Shade: 
    Green
    Habit: 
    Mounded
    Container Role: 
    Filler

    Plant Needs

    Light Requirement: 
    Part Sun to Sun

    The optimum amount of sun or shade each plant needs to thrive: Full Sun (6+ hours), Part Sun (4-6 hours), Full Shade (up to 4 hours).

    Maintenance Category: 
    Easy
    Bloom Time: 
    Summer
    Hardiness Zones: 
    8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b
    Water Category: 
    Average
    Soil Fertility Requirement: 
    Average Soil
    Uses: 
    Container
    Uses: 
    Grass
    Uses: 
    Landscape
    Uses Notes: 

    Perfect as an ornamental grass for containers, borders and beds.

    Maintenance Notes: 

    Fiber Optic Grass is a neutral grass. Where temperatures get colder than 20 degrees F, the isoelepis cernua plant should be treated as annuals. Once the grass turns brown it can either be removed immediately or removed in the spring. It should not be expected to live through the winter and begin growing again in the spring.

    In areas where winter temperatures remain above 20 degrees it should be considered a perennial and the following information should be useful for this ornamental grass for containers. Evergreen or neutral grasses are usually plants that look like grasses but aren't actually classified as grasses, including this grass like plant with white tips, they are generally called grass-like plants.

    Divide evergreen or neutral grasses and grass-like plants in spring only for this isoelepis cernua plant. Evergreen grasses don't ever go dormant. Dividing plants wounds them to some degree. For evergreen grasses this wounding will really affect their ability to live through the winter, especially for fiber optic grass.

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    Browse reviews from people who have grown this plant.
    • I have been growing fiber optic grass for a few years. It actually came up by itself in an area of my yard. I thought it looked pretty good, so I started transplanting where I wanted it. I live in the Suburbs of Chicago and it is not dying off in the winter. It also seeds and I have an abundance of new plants every year. It is really a trooper for me.

      Patricia Beutler
      , Illinois
      , United States
      , 9 years ago
    • I have one on a table by my front door and everytime I look at it I smile. My guests always comment about this plant - they also think its cute!

      kaye
      , 14 years ago
    • This plant does terriffic in a planter. Give it room to hang down the sides of a planter.

      Rebecca Adams
      , Illinois
      , United States
      , 15 years ago
    • Sandra
      , British Columbia
      , Canada
      , 15 years ago
    • I love the way this plant looks in my flower bed! Always gets a lot of attention from passers-by. Wish I'd brought it indoors in the Fall...it gets to be -30 and colder here in the winters. I'll have to buy a new bunch this Spring.

      Dawn
      , British Columbia
      , Canada
      , 15 years ago
    • Looked tremendous all summer & into the fall.

      Linda Sheridan
      , New York
      , United States
      , 15 years ago
  • Award Year Award Plant Trial
    2010 Top Performer Oklahoma State University Botanical Gardens
    2010 Top Performer Oklahoma State University Botanical Gardens
    2010 Top Performer Oklahoma State University Botanical Gardens
    2009 Top Consumer Choice - Spring University of Florida - Fort Lauderdale
    2009 Leader of the Pack - Early Season North Carolina State, JC Raulston Arboretum
    2009 Best of Breed - Summer North Carolina State, JC Raulston Arboretum
    2009 Top Consumer Choice - Spring University of Florida - Fort Lauderdale
    2009 Leader of the Pack - Early Season North Carolina State, JC Raulston Arboretum
    2009 Best of Breed - Summer North Carolina State, JC Raulston Arboretum
    2009 Top Consumer Choice - Spring University of Florida - Fort Lauderdale
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