Elliott’s Love Grass
Eragrostis elliottii
Elliott’s Love Grass is often seen in moist pine flatwoods, vacant lots and Longleaf Pine communities across all of Florida and the Southeast. It stays below 12 inches and is a beautiful blue color.
It can tolerate drought and short term flooding with fresh or brackish water. Plant far back from the dune; it can only tolerate some salt wind.
This is nice for the edge of a planting. Make sure it gets plenty of light and some moisture. It usually dies after the first year or two. Sometimes seedlings come up or you can easily grow new plants from seed in a vegetable soil mix.
I like to mix this with other grasses, wildflowers and low shrubs. It goes well with Split Beard Broomsedge, Pineland Dropseed, Native Porterweed, Lopsided Indiangrasss, Swamp Fern, Yellow Canna Lily, Florida Lily, Pineland Petunia, Silkgrass, Seaside Goldenrod, Muhly Grass, Sand Cordgrass, Prairie Iris, Red Salvia, Coreopsis and other wildflowers.
I once planted the whole front of someone’s yard, not my suggestion, with this grass. It looked great and went to seed that fall. Unfortunately the ripe seed panicles broke off the plant and blew around the neighborhood. It looked like it had snown and took a while for me to rake them up.
This is also a good source of seed for songbirds.