Deschampsia cespitosa Tardiflora

Deschampsia cespitosa 'Tardiflora' is a variety that offers superb late summer flowering retaining its beauty throughout much of winter. This beautiful evergreen grass is really easy to grow, and thrives almost anywhere, even in shade. This variety forms a very dense fountain-like clump and produces a cloud of large green-yellow inflorescences in August, which turn to blonde and golden yellow in autumn. This perennial plant is attractive all year round, with golden blonde flowering branches, vigorous foliage and the magnificent shape of its stems bearing frost-covered faded flowers in winter.

Deschampsia cespitosa is a densely tufted, non-spreading (cespitose) perennial grass belonging to the poaceae family. It is native to Europe, temperate Asia, and boreal America, where it easily grows in various wet and uncultivated places. This extremely hardy, long-lived plant self-seeds quite easily, but the young seedlings are easily removed.

The 'Tardiflora' form is mainly distinguished by its late flowering. The plant develops into an initially upright then slightly spreading clump, reaching a height of 90 cm (35in) to 1 m (3ft) when in bloom, with a nearly equivalent spread. In the midst of the foliage, large and delicate, airy inflorescences appear from August to October, carried by stiff stems. They are formed by numerous small flowers that are initially greenish, then brown-reddish, and finally take on a fabulous golden hue. This flowering becomes increasingly bright as the days go by. The evergreen leaves are green, flat, 2 to 5 mm (1in) wide, very rough, and often very long.

Few plant scenes can match the poetic intensity of an autumn sun flooding the cloudy mass of golden grass. Especially planted against a backdrop of yews. A fascinating and almost unreal tableau, easily reproduced in our gardens as these very hardy plants accept any ordinary soil, even heavy clay or occasionally dry. The Deschampsia do not hinder neighbouring plants. 'Tardiflora' will give its best performance in a mass planting, mixed with perennials with ample foliage such as Darmera or ligularias, or planted in large masses with Dierama, to bring lightness and brightness to a wild garden, in front of a dark foliage screen. It will happily accompany daffodils, jonquils, and numerous perennials (valerians, heleniums, echinaceas, Japanese anemones, asters). Its long inflorescences lighten fresh and dried bouquets.