Muhlenbergia capillaris

Pink Muhly grass is an absolute showstopper source of late-season color. As an ornamental grass, it is a great complement to those landscape beds with fading summer annuals. The delicate plumes of flower panicles create a striking pink haze above the dark green, glossy foliage. This grass is found naturally in clay or thin rocky soils, especially in those soils that were formerly burned and prairie-like. They are also found in open woodlands, in savannas, in dry woodlands, and in the mountains around rock outcrops.

This perennial is attractive individually but really makes a big show when used in a mass planting. Pink muhly grass can reach a height of 4 feet and a width of 3 feet. Give it plenty of sunshine and transplant into soil that is well drained.

A North American native, pink muhly grass sounds too good to be true. Long-lived, with little to no insect or disease pests and highly resistant to deer grazing, this ornamental grass is perfect for the low-maintenance garden. Muhly grass tolerates heat, humidity, drought, poor soil and is highly salt tolerant.

Delicate pink flowers mature on long, narrow, wiry leaves in the fall. The grass produces tiny, purplish seeds.

Pink Muhly Grass was named after Gotthilf Muhlenberg, a botanist, chemist, and mineralogist. He is credited with classifying and naming at least 150 species of plants in his Index Flora Lancastriensis, published in 1785. He lived from 1753-1815.

VIDEO created by Andy Pulte for “Landscape Plant Identification, Taxonomy and Morphology” a plant identification course offered by the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee.