Stipa: trend for prairie-style planting has helped Stipa sales

摘要

The genus Stipa contains over 300 species and most are native to grassland areas, such as the prairies of the US. They provide year-round colour, texture and shape and the different Stipa species offer a great variety of structure and colour with theleaves and flowering seed panicles. The panicles range from the needle-like inflorescence of Stipa turkestanica to the feathery awns of Stipa calamagrostis and Stipa tenuissima. Stipa is enjoying a great deal of popularity with landscapers, gardeners and garden designers and they often feature in the prairiestyle planting that is becoming increasingly popular in the UK thanks to garden designers such as Piet Oudolf. Stipa gigantea and Stipa tenuissima are the most commonly seen in the UK. All Stipa need to be planted in a sunny position in free-draining soil, disliking heavy, wet soils. New species are coming in from Turkey and the Ukraine. They are used to very hot and dry conditions, so are particularly intolerant of damp areas.