Stipa gigantea (Golden Oat)

It’s big. Clue’s in the title. This enthusiastic whoosh of dense grassy stems will get to  4.5ft or so but when it rockets out a forest of flowering stems it really earns its name. Expect something 7-8 feet tall at this most majestic stage. The flowerheads are silvery and oat-like, very trembly and delicate. These flower (and subsequent seed) heads persist well into winter, so can be left for the birds and for the eyes: they remind you of summer even when glitter-bombed with frost. Despite their delicacy of form, these grasses are really architectural: it has something of an airy Pampas Grass about it but is far prettier and much less of a galloping thug. Partner them with a mob of its cousins like Stipa tenuissima or Anemanthele lessoniana for instant prairie. Or, among well-clipped and disciplined evergreen shrubs for a really dynamic contrast of outlines. You can simply have them peppered through mixed borders for effortless impact if you want. Like all Stipa, they enjoy an open and sunny site. Ideally on moist well drained soil. These grasses withstand wind very well so if you’re coastal or exposed they won’t mind this at all.