Diarrhena americana

I’m guessing that very few of you have ever heard of Diarrhena americana…no, it’s not what happened when you ate some bad food at the local pub. It’s a North American ornamental grass that can be found from Michigan south to Georgia and west to Oklahoma, where it resides in rich, moist savannahs and open woodlands. In our garden, it forms a 2′ tall x 3′ wide clump, topped in midsummer with 3′ tall floral spikes of rather nondescript tan beaked flowers. Diarrhena has proven to be an easy-to-grow nice garden specimen, although it will never be the homecoming queen of ornamental grasses.