Panicum virgatum Dream Catcher®​ Tumbleweed®​ (`Nondee’)​PP36232

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FIRST IMPRESSIONS:  Panicum virgatum Dream Catcher®​ Tumbleweed®​ is a compact, rounded switch grass selected for its cute appearance and tough demeanor.  A great native grass that commands attention in the garden and works well in mid-height meadows as well.

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.

Tumbleweed® is just awesome; it is virtually round in shape and when it flowers it looks like a puffy silvery-black beachball (or tumbleweed). But it doesn’t blow around in the wind; it holds up nicely to wind and rain and can be used en masse or with companions.–From website of Hortech.com

Panicum virgatum is hardy from USDA Zones 4-9.

PLANT DESCRIPTION:  Panicum virgatum ‘Dream Catcher®​ ‘Tumbleweed®’  is a compact selection, reaching a height of 36 inches, including flowers.  Speaking of flowers, ‘Tumbleweed’ becomes covered in flower plumes in late summer, lending to it’s rounded form, providing its namesake.

CULTURAL & MAINTENANCE NEEDS:  Panicum virgatum ‘Dream Catcher®​ Tumbleweed®’​  prospers in sunny sites with average to moist soil.

Plants tolerate drought, salt and clay, sandy or infertile 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 Containers, Cottage Gardens, Low Maintenance Plantings, Rain Gardens and Water Wise Landscapes.

COMPANION & UNDERSTUDY PLANTS:   Try pairing Panicum virgatum ‘Tumbleweed®’ 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 Bouteloua curtipendula.  It is similar in height and drought resistant.