Panicum virgatum Dream Catcher®​ Old Faithful®​ (‘Nonlufht’) PP36205

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FIRST IMPRESSIONS:  Panicum virgatum Dream Catcher®​ Old Faithful®​ (‘Nonlufht’) PP36205 is a tall switch grass with abundant silvery plumes in summer.  The cascading foliage and abundant misty flowers provide the illusion of a geyser display.  The upright form makes a great screen or statement piece for any landscape.  Switch grass performs many important eco system services such as habitat creation, and water and soil quality improvement.

HABITAT & HARDINESS:  The parent species Panicum virgatum ranges through most of the southern Canadian provinces and the contiguous United States.  The species is indigenous to prairies, savannas, glades, rocky bluffs, stream banks, open woods, sand dunes, marsh borders, roadsides, ditches and fields.

Michigan Plant Breeder, Dave Mackenzie, developed this grass at Hortech, Inc. in Nunica, MI.

Panicum virgatum is hardy from USDA Zones 4-9.

PLANT DESCRIPTION:  Panicum virgatum ‘Dream Catcher®​ Old Faithful®’ is a tall switch grass with an inverted umbrella shape, allowing for midsize and short companion species to layer closely in matrix plantings.  The green foliage is tidy and upright, tolerant to wind, rain and salt.  Foliage turns yellow in fall, fading to tan.  ‘Old Faithful’ adds color, texture and movement to the winter garden.

CULTURAL & MAINTENANCE NEEDS:  Panicum virgatum ‘Dream Catcher®​ Old Faithful®’​  prospers in sunny sites with average to moist soil.  May flop in overly rich soil.  Drought tolerant once established and needs little fertilizer.

Plants tolerate salt and clay or sandy soils. Stems are sturdy and usually remain upright without staking even in windy coastal sites.

Plants are unpalatable to deer and other herbivores.

The only maintenance needed is to cut or burn this grass to the ground in late winter.

LANDSCAPE USES:    Perennial Borders, Coastal Gardens. Roadsides or Urban Meadows. Plants provide Erosion Control, Winter Interest, Showy Blooms and Attractive Seed heads and are appropriate for Screens or Hedges, Cottage Gardens, Low Maintenance Plantings, Rain Gardens and Water Wise Landscapes.

COMPANION & UNDERSTUDY PLANTS:   Try pairing Panicum virgatum ‘Old Faithful’ with Aster laevis ‘Bluebird’, Callirhoe involucrata, Echinacea purpurea, Rudbeckia fulgida var. fulgida, Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’ or Sisyrinchium angusitfolium ‘Lucerne’.

If a substitute is needed, try Panicum virgatum ‘Northwind’.