Panicum Prairie Winds® 'Niagara Falls'
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Panicum Prairie Winds® 'Niagara Falls': Powder-Blue Fountain Frozen Mid-Pour
Wide, powder-blue blades that arch over and spill down like water over a ledge. 'Niagara Falls' brings all the drama of the real thing with ZERO TOUR BUSES.
Plant Characteristics:
- Botanical Name: Panicum virgatum 'Niagara Falls'
- Common Name: Switch Grass
- Series: Prairie Winds®, a Proven Winners® perennial
- Height: 120 cm (4 ft)
- Spread: 120 cm (4 ft)
- Flowers: Airy tan panicles that ripen into cream seed heads in fall
- Bloom Time: Late summer through fall (August to October)
- Foliage: Powder-blue, wide and arching, with a look closer to Miscanthus than to most switch grasses
- Features: Salt and wind tolerant, fall and winter interest
- Plant Patent: USPP 34,509
Where to Plant: Give it room, since it grows about as wide as it is tall and fills space fast. That makes it handy for mass plantings, slopes and the middle of a big border, and its salt tolerance suits beds along driveways and roads.
Companion Plants: Nepeta Whispurr™ Pink softens the base of this grass with pink flowers from June to September. Asclepias 'Hello Yellow' brings yellow butterfly weed blooms from June to August at 45 to 60 cm. Edge it all with Veronica 'Snow Candles', whose white spikes appear from July to September. The arching grass looks great rising behind these lower plants in full sun.
Plant Care: Plant in full sun. It grows in poor to fertile soil and takes dry to evenly moist conditions once settled. Avoid heavy shade, where it can flop. Water through the first season while the roots grow in. Leave the foliage and seed heads standing over winter. Cut back to about 10 cm (4 in) in early spring, before new growth starts. Like all switch grass, it starts late in spring, so give it time. Divide in spring every few years if the clump thins in the middle.
History: Switch grass is a key grass of the North American tallgrass prairie, native from southern Canada to Mexico, including southern Ontario. 'Niagara Falls' is part of the Prairie Winds® collection from Walters Gardens in Michigan, sized between 'Apache Rose' and 'Totem Pole'.
Final Thoughts: Wind tolerant, salt tolerant, deer resistant and no rain poncho required. Plant one and charge the neighbours admission. HONEYMOONERS WELCOME.
