Miscanthus sinensis ‘Malepartus’

Tall and robust semi-evergreen grass with rather distinctive leaves: every slender blade has a slender-er white stripe down the middle. It’s subtle, but this adds even more light and texture to an already very bold plant. In Autumn the fine and gently arching leaves take on all manner of orangey-red hues before turning tawny and dry in winter. Reaches around 1.5 metres and that’s before the flowers emerge. Great feathery plumes arranged on thin stems like fireworks, from late summer take it to 2 metres. Flower colour is essentially pink, but very variable, even within the same plant: every shade of delicate and elegant ballet shoe you can imagine. It’s a gorgeous grass and one of our favourite Miscanthuses for screening and bold planting schemes. Goes without saying that it’s a must-have for a big border, or an expansive gravel garden or prairie-inspired patch.

Demands all the light: full sun or don't bother. Takes all soils and is very sanguine about thin, poor fare. In fact, we’re hearing a lot about Miscanthus being used for fuel as it produces masses of stuff (biomass, it’s called) on very little nutrition. You should probably just grow it because it makes a beautiful addition to the garden.