Wildflower Wednesday: Chasmanthium latifolium, A Year Round Beauty

I love native grasses and there aren't nearly enough in my garden. Shallow soil and shady conditions limit them at Clay and Limestone, but, Chasmanthium latifolium (River Oats) is deliriously happy here and it makes a gorgeous big impression....And I do mean a big impression.

I think it's important to tell the truth about plants I showcase and the truth is that while I love River Oats I need to issue a word of caution--This grass spreads through rhizomes and can be aggressive. It will also reseed itself. In fact it has seeded itself vigorously around my sunnier border and taken over spots once inhabited by other sweet native wildflowers! I don't blame the plant, that's its nature. I hold myself completely responsible that it has run roughshod over other plants.  

The first few years in the garden

When I was young and eager to have a wildlife friendly garden I chose River Oats because it had year round beauty and good wildlife value. It was easy to grow and tolerant of many different light and soil conditions. I loved that it was a larval host plant for butterflies as well as a food source for small mammals and birds. Later on I learned that it provided shelter for small mammals and was an important plant for lightening bugs.*

It was in the ground and well established when a gardening friend visited and said this to me when she noticed the large clump of river oats: "Oh my, why did you plant that?"  She knew what many of us learn from experience, that river oats can be a bit thuggish in some gardens. That's what I found out...Each and everyone of those spikelets can make a new plant in moist soil. It can in dry soil, too!  

But let's talk about its wonderful characteristics!  

River oats is a cool season clumping grass that emerges in spring before most native grasses. The bright green arching bamboo like foliage is so welcome after a brown winter.

April green leaves with Phlox pilosa

It's especially lovely in early spring as it mingles with early spring wildflowers.

  

Leander Bruce photo

 The flat nodding green seed heads that resemble oats emerge with the foliage. The spike like flower heads sway gently in the slightest breeze making quite a statement in a spring garden.

It always strikes me as too soon when the flowers ripen into seeds, but that's to be expected with cool season grasses. Most cool season grasses are bunch grasses that grow actively in cool weather and set seed by early summer. 

And just look how lovely the yellow gold seedheads look with Physostegia virginiana. How ironic or maybe appropriate that two of the most disobedient plants in my garden dance so well together!

 

Here are two of my favorite fall photos from the archives.

It seeded itself among the witch hazels, Hydrangea arborescens and a long gone Japanese Maple tree. Below it's mixing well with a fall blooming aster.

a lovely couple 

 Full on winter finds them still beautiful.

Yellowing up on its way to bronze winter color

Since I garden for wildlife, I don't clean up my garden in winter. This means that I let the River oats and the stems of wildflowers stand all winter. This allows insects that over winter in wildflower stems a safe haven and food for birds who forage the seed heads. River oats foliage insulates and protects the plant, adds winter interest and its thick, clumping habit offers essential cover and nesting materials for birds and small mammals.

 If you're really lucky you get to see them in the snow. 

wind pollinated

 Chasmanthium latifolium has more pluses than minuses, but, plant it only if you don't mind a plant that vigorously reseeds or if you have a space in your garden where it can make its big statement! Long time readers know I am a huge fan of colonizing, rough and tumble, take care of themselves native plants and this is definitely one of them.

 I've seen it growing in rich woodlands adjacent to cedar glades where it it co-mingles with Hypericum frondosum, Rhus aromatica and sedges.  It can also be found naturally growing in rich woodlands and  stream beds slopes. It's perfect for stabilizing a stream bank or a slope that's eroding. If you've ever tried struggled to dig a clump to divide or transplant you know that its fibrous and deep root system would hold back the steepest slope!

I will be doing some editing this spring and summer! Wish me luck!xoxogail

 

 

The Particulars

Common Name: Indian Wood Oats, Inland Sea Oats, Northern Sea Oats, River Oats, Wild Oats, Wood-oat 

Type: Ornamental grass 

Family: Poaceae 

Native Range: Eastern United States, northern Mexico 

Zone: 3 to 8 

Height: 2.00 to 5.00 feet 

Spread: 1.00 to 2.50 feet 

Bloom Time: August to September 

Bloom Description: Green 

Sun: Full sun to part shade. Very happy in almost full shade.

Water: Medium to wet 

Maintenance: Low, if planted in the right place!

Suggested Use: Use in naturalized areas, along streams or edges of water gardens. Watch its placement especially in smaller gardens as may spread aggressively by rhizomes and seeds. 

Comments: Showy flowers look like oats. A good cut flower in arrangements. Great winter interest. Highly resistant to deer.

Wildlife value: Larval host plant for Northern Pearly-Eye (Lethe anthedon) caterpillars.  Also a larval host plant to several skipper butterflies. Small mammals and birds are attracted to the seeds. Shelter to small mammals in winter.

*Special note: River oats  are an excellent native grass for creating a firefly-friendly habitat, providing necessary shade, moisture retention, and structural support for mating. These ornamental grasses offer protective cover for larvae and resting spots for adult fireflies, particularly in shady or riparian areas.

 

 

 Welcome to Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday celebration. On the fourth Wednesday of each month I share information about wildflowers and other native plants. Please join in if you like. You can write a blog post or share your favorite wildflower on social media. Remember, it doesn't matter if they are in bloom or not, and, it doesn't matter if we all share the same plants. It's all about celebrating wildflowers.

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener, Tennessee Naturalist and nature writer in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Wildflower Wednesday: Chasmanthium latifolium (River Oats)

There aren't nearly enough grasses in my garden. Shallow soil and a shady conditions limit them at Clay and Limestone, but, one that is quite happy here and makes a gorgeous big impression is Chasmanthium latifolium (River Oats).

 clump-forming, upright

I think it's important to tell the truth about plants I showcase and the truth is that I love this one.

Yellowing up on its way to bronze winter color

I planted it for it's year round beauty.

 This cool season clumping grass is a bright green in early spring, growing quickly to about 2 foot tall and sending up arching stems. A bit later, there are attractive flat, drooping seed heads that hang in terminal clusters on thread-like pedicils on arching stems.

As river oats age they begin to yellow (see above June 2016)  and by late summer or early fall the foliage and spikelets have turned a nice bright yellow. By mid winter they're a gorgeous bronze.

I leave them stand all winter where they continue to dance in the breeze, stand up beautifully in the snow and provide shelter for small mammals and birds.

the ex-asters are good companions

Way back when Clay and Limestone was just becoming a garden, a more experienced gardening friend exclaimed, "Oh my, why did you plant that?" when she spied a large clump of river oats. She knew what many of us learn from experience, that river oats can be a bit thuggish in some gardens. Each and everyone of those spikelets can make a new plant in moist soil. It can in dry soil, too!

April green leaves with Phlox pilosa

I love it anyway! But, then, I am a huge fan of colonizing, rough and tumble, take care of themselves native plants. This one has more pluses than minuses, but, plant it only if you don't mind a plant that vigorously reseeds.

wind pollinated

I've seen it growing in rich woodlands adjacent to cedar glades where it it comingles with Hypericum frondosum, Rhus aromatica and sedges.  It can also be found naturally growing in rich woodlands and  stream beds slopes. It's perfect for stabilizing a stream bank or a slope that's eroding. If you've ever tried struggled to dig a clump to divide or transplant you know that its fibrous and deep root system would hold back the steepest slope!

drooping inflorescences and compressed spikelets

I appreciate its year round beauty...flaws and all.

The Particulars

Botanical name: Chasmanthium latifolium
Common Name: river oats, inland oats
Type: Ornamental grass, River Oats is a perennial cool season grass, but it's seed is dispersed in the fall like a warm season grass.
Family: Poaceae
Native Range: Eastern United States, northern Mexico
Zone: 3 to 8
Size: 2.00 to 5.00 feet height by 1.00 to 2.50 feet spread
Bloom Time: August to September~seedheads last until late winter in middle Tennessee
Bloom Description: Green,  compressed spikelets, turn golden as they mature

Sun: Full sun to part shade

River oats behind the bird bath with Solidago, Amsonia and false dragonhead

Water: Medium to wet; more water if planted in full sun. It's happy in my garden near the birdbath where it gets a good soaking while I fill the bath or when the birds visit. 
Suggested Use: Naturalize, stream banks, dry forests, slope stabilization,

let river oats duke it out with False dragonhead

Companion plants: Wildflowers, Phlox, Itea virginica, the ex-asters, false dragonhead
Flower: Showy seedheads year round
Tolerate: Black Walnut, wet soil, deer do not browse
Pollinated by wind
Wildlife value: larval host for several skipper butterflies. The seeds are eaten by small mammals and birds, and the stems and leaves are used as nesting material by birds.
Comments: When happy, it is a rampant self seeder and requires vigilance to catch the seedlings. I would recommend with reservations to gardeners who want their plants to behave.

Only you can decide if there are more pluses than minuses! You'll be happy with Chasmanthium latifolium  if you can accept its one flaw~vigorous reseeding! Good looking foliage and nodding seedheads that flutter and rustle in the slightest breeze, while providing shelter and food for visiting birds, mammals and insects, more than make up for having to weed out unwanted seedlings!

Happy Wildflower Wednesday.
xoxogail

Welcome to Wildflower Wednesday where we come together to celebrate wildflowers from all over this great big beautiful world. It doesn't matter if we sometimes show the same plants, how they grow and thrive in your garden is what matters most. I hope you join the celebration...It's always the fourth Wednesday of the month!


Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Wordless Wednesday: The Autumn Dance Begins

Physostegia virginiana/False Dragonhead and Chasmanthium latifolium/River Oats,

When you let two rough and tumble wildflowers duke it out in the garden, they make beautiful music together.

xoxogail

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Wildflower Wednesday Part 2: A Thanksgiving Week Long Celebration

River Oats was the first native grass I added to the garden and I have never regretted it.

much earlier in the fall

It's a  clump-forming, upright, ornamental grass with wide bright green leaves and gracefully arching and nodding clusters of oat like flowers (spikelets) that emerge green then turn brown with age. Leaves and flower heads turn a rich tan in autumn and reddish-bronze by winter.  I think it's beautiful all year long, but I like to give it a good haircut by early February when the seed heads have fallen off.  Just cut it back to the basal rosette and new leaves will emerge when it warms up.

 even the softest of breezes will make the seed heads flutter

Good looking plants that also provide for garden critters are a must for my garden and River Oats has decent wildlife value.   Because it's wind pollinated there won't be any pollinators buzzing around the pretty spikelet flowers, but, I am happy to report that it's a host plant for several roadside skippers and a few butterflies.  That makes me happy!

River Oats gives my garden much needed contrast and texture almost all year.  It's a perfect companion for upright  Panicum virgatum 'Northwind',  the blue-grey needles of  Juniperus virginiana 'Grey Owl', native ex-asters and the purple Waiting Bench.

naturalized under oaks and hickory trees  with Hypericum frondosum, Penstemon calycosus and other native plants.

I use it as an accent plant in a raised bed near the front entrance, but, love that it has naturalized in my garden and mimics almost perfectly the oak-hickory woodlands found adjacent to a cedar glade. That was my goal when I planted the center garden a few years ago. It's still a golden brown and the hypericum is just about hyper colored!  It's especially nice to see on  a rainy day when the colors are intensified.

Chasmanthium latifolium will grow anywhere (Eastern USA, Zone 3 to 8); glades, stream banks, dry forests, shade and clay soil.  Please note I said, anywhere! Which brings us back to my "I have never regretted" planting it statement. When happy, it is a rampant self seeder and requires vigilance to catch the seedlings. Think beautiful ground cover with several seasons of interest. Think about this before you decide to plant it in your garden. Think about what you want from it...If you want a plant that will naturalize and create a large swath then this is the grass for you! If you don't mind keeping it in check, pulling out unwanted seedlings, then this is the  grass for you.  If you want a gorgeous grass with  almost year round beauty, then this is the grass for you.

 Personally, I never share this plant without first letting gardeners know that it is a marvelous ground cover and they'll have lots of dried seed heads for flower arranging.

Bright green leaves turn a coppery color after frost and eventually brown by winter

If you've decided you want to invite River Oats into your garden. Then do yourself a favor and let the seed heads and golden bamboo like leaves stand all winter long. You'll love the winter interest and the seed heads will dance in the breeze.

January 2011

  I can't wait to see them standing tall and golden in the snow.

xxoogail

Welcome to Clay and Limestone and  Part 2 of  the Thanksgiving week long celebration of wildflowers. All across America families and friends are making plans to gather for Thanksgiving dinner. It's our annual celebration of the "First Thanksgiving" when colonists celebrated arriving safely in the New World.

In my house, before the feasting begins, we all take turns sharing our feelings of gratitude. This year, I am especially grateful for the health and well being of my family; for loving and supportive friends; for rain that finally fell in Middle Tennessee; and, for wildflowers that bloomed no matter how horrid the weather has been. Please join me any time this week to share and celebrate the wonderful wildflowers that live and thrive in your gardens. Remember, it doesn't matter if they are in bloom or not. Please leave a comment and add your name to Mr Linky so others can pop over to see your Wildflower Wednesday post.



Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone."