Skip to content
Grass · Poaceae Draft — unreviewed

Hameln fountain grass

Cenchrus purpurascens‘Hameln’ Thunb.

Also called dwarf fountain grass. Synonyms: Pennisetum alopecuroides.

Compact mounding fountain grass with fuzzy bottlebrush plumes in late summer. Popular for edging and mass plantings.

Size over time

Typical landscape size 0.6–0.9 m (2–3 ft) tall and 0.6–0.9 m (2–3 ft) wide; medium growth, about 3 years to maturity. Intermediate sizes use the planner’s growth curve (k = 0.25) from the #1 install size.

00.511.52mPlanting0.3 × 0.3 mYear 30.6 × 0.5 mYear 100.7 × 0.7 mMature0.8 × 0.8 m

Design notes

  • Seeds into nearby beds in some areas; cut plumes before seed ripens if needed.
  • Different from tender, invasive purple and crimson fountain grasses.

Regions

Native range: East Asia and Australia (species).

Not recorded as native to any of the three pilot regions.

Native status describes where the species occurs naturally. It is not a promise that it suits a particular garden; site conditions decide that.

Related plants

Fountain grass
Cenchrus setaceus · Grass · 0.6–1.2 m (2–4 ft)
Blue grama
Bouteloua gracilis · Grass · 0.3–0.6 m (1–2 ft)
Karl Foerster feather reed grass
Calamagrostis × acutiflora 'Karl Foerster' · Grass · 1.2–1.8 m (4–6 ft)
Northern sea oats
Chasmanthium latifolium · Grass · 0.6–1.2 m (2–4 ft)
Golden Japanese forest grass
Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' · Grass · 0.3–0.5 m (1 ft)
Morning Light maiden grass
Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light' · Grass · 1.2–1.5 m (4–5 ft)

Plan with Hameln fountain grass

Place it in a design, check it against your zone, light and moisture, and see it at year three and year ten.

Start designing Try a sample garden