Fireworks® Fountain Grass

If you think that all grass is green, think again. Fireworks Fountain Grass is just what it sounds like – an explosion of vivid color in a fountain of narrow leaves and flower spikes. This beautiful grass grows 3 to 4 feet tall, and 2 feet across, and it is a vivid fire-ball of red and purple. Every leaf is striped from top to bottom in narrow bands of burgundy, green and white, and the flower spikes are a bright red-purple color. This beautiful grass is an easy way to bring vibrant color anywhere in your garden, from beds to planters. Although it flowers profusely, this variety does not produce any viable seed, so it cannot spread in your garden, or into surrounding natural areas. Even in places like California, where the wild form of this grass has escaped, you are completely protecting your local environment when growing this sterile grass.

Growing Fireworks Fountain Grass

Size and Appearance

Fireworks Fountain Grass has long, narrow leaves, banded in vibrant color. It forms a dense clump with arching leaves, and in summer, from within those leaves, sprout many flowering stems, which are purple in color – the stems and the flower heads. These fluffy heads are around 9 inches in length, and they add interest as well as color to this plant. The overall effect is a fountain of purple, pink, and burgundy, which lasts and lasts for months.

Using Fireworks Fountain Grass in Your Garden

This colorful grass has many uses around the garden. Combine it with plants in complementary colors, such as blues and pinks, among perennials and smaller shrubs. Use it to bring color to plantings you create with other ornamental grasses. It is a wonderful container plant, alone or with other plants, and allows you to have lots of color without needing to plant flowers. Wherever you use it, you will love how easy it is to bring an explosion of color into your garden with this tough plant.

Hardiness

Fireworks Fountain Grass is hardy in zones 9 to 11. If you live in hotter parts of the country it will grow through winter. Just trim back in early spring, so that you have plenty of fresh new leaves for the summer. In colder areas it is easy to overwinter your plant, if you have a cool, sunny place that does not freeze, like a porch or windowsill.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

Grow your Fireworks Fountain Grass in a sunny place, for the best color development. This tough grass thrives in drier conditions, and it grows well in any well-drained soil. Once it is established it is very drought-resistant, and it needs almost no care.

Maintenance and Pruning

Some slow-release fertilizer applied in spring is helpful in giving the maximum growth, but it is not necessary in most situations. It has no significant pests or diseases, and it is usually left alone by deer. In colder zones lift your plant before the first frost arrives, and trim off the seed stalks and any older leaves. Plant it in a pot big enough to contain the roots, and bring it into that cool, sunny place you have chosen. Keep it dry, only watering when the soil is almost completely dry. In spring, once the night temperatures are over 40 degrees, plant it back outside again.

History and Origin of Fireworks Fountain Grass

Fireworks Fountain Grass is a hybrid plant, a form of Pennisetum x avena. That plant is most widely grown as Purple Fountain Grass (P. x avena ‘Rubrum’), and these plants are considered by the top experts to be a cross between African fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum) and giant fountain grass, Pennisetum macrostachyum ‘Burgundy Giant’. African fountain grass grows wild from North Africa through the Middle East and into Central Asia, always in hot, sandy and dry areas, where it is an important part of the xeric ecosystem. The second plant, giant fountain grass, grows in Borneo and New Guinea, and ‘Burgundy Giant’ was created at the famous Longwood Gardens, in Pennsylvania.

Purple Fountain Grass has purple-pink coloring uniformly covering the leaves. One day, in the spring of 2004, Ronald Strasko, owner of the wholesale Creek Hill Nursery, in Leola, Pennsylvania, was looking at some plants of Purple Fountain Grass when he spotted a shoot on one that was different. He separated it and grew it into a full-sized plant. It was striped, not plain in color, and it was so colorful he called it ‘Fireworks’. This plant was patented in 2006, and our plants come from a top-quality licensed grower, and are grown by the division of plants derived from that original find, not by seed. There are other, cheaper varieties of this grass, but nothing surpasses ‘Fireworks’ for brilliance and interest.

Buying Fireworks Fountain Grass at the Tree Center

Since its introduction, this plant has been very popular with everyone – and no wonder. Our stock will only be with us a short time. The demand is high, so order now while we can still satisfy you.