Pennisetum

A showy, tender, clump-forming fountain grass grown for its long, soft, nodding, foxtail plumes in pink to purple that arch above mounding foliage all summer and fall — most striking in the burgundy-leaved forms ('Rubrum', 'Fireworks') that anchor summer containers and bedding. Its accepted botanical name is now Cenchrus setaceus, though gardeners still know it as Pennisetum setaceum. HONESTY: the green-leaved species is one of the world's most serious invasive grasses — a fire-promoting noxious weed that has overrun wild land in California, Hawaii, Arizona, and beyond, and is banned or restricted in several places — so grow ONLY the sterile burgundy cultivars, never the seeding green species. Frost-tender (zone 9 and up), it is grown as a summer annual in cold climates.

A graceful, clump-forming ornamental grass — the Chinese fountain grass — with a fountain-shaped mound of arching green leaves topped from late summer into autumn by soft, bottlebrush, foxtail-like flower plumes that range from creamy white to smoky purple-black. Easy and adaptable in full sun, it rises 2-4 feet and reads as a fine-textured movement plant in borders and mass plantings. Honest caveat: the straight species self-seeds freely and has become weedy or invasive in mild climates (a problem weed in parts of California and Australia), so deadhead before the seed ripens where that is a concern, or plant the far less seedy compact cultivars such as 'Hameln' and 'Little Bunny'. Its accepted botanical name is now Cenchrus, though it is sold everywhere as Pennisetum alopecuroides.