River Oats

Chasmanthium latifolium

River Oats is the grass that makes people stop and ask what it is. Flat, oat-like seedheads dangle from fine, arching stems and sway at the slightest movement. individually small but collectively hypnotic when massed. They emerge green in summer, turn a warm copper-bronze in fall, and persist well into winter with surprisingly good structure for a shade-tolerant grass. Plant it along shaded paths, beneath deciduous canopy, or at the edge of a rain garden where moisture collects. It naturalizes readily by seed, spreading gently to fill in bare ground under trees where little else will grow. The broad, bamboo-like blades catch filtered light in a way that adds real life to darker garden corners. Songbirds. especially Cardinals and Goldfinches. strip the seedheads in fall and winter. Cut it back in late winter to about 4 inches before fresh growth emerges. Once established, River Oats is essentially self-sufficient in moist to average shaded conditions.