In the landscape
Border · Container · Meadow · Naturalized · Woodland · Cottage · Native
Data sources
Tufted Hair Grass
Deschampsia cespitosa · Ornamental grass
Tufted Hair Grass is an ornamental grass, hardy in USDA zones 4-9, that matures to about 2–3 ft × 1–2 ft. It does best in part shade with medium water needs in moist and occasionally-wet soil. Expect cream, yellow and silver blooms in summer and fall. It attracts songbirds, stands up well to black walnut, deer and drought and grows happily in containers.
- USDA zones
- 4-9
- Sun
- Part shade
- Water
- Medium
- Mature size
- 2–3 ft × 1–2 ft
- Maintenance
- Low
- Soil
- Moist, Occasionally-wet
- Bloom color
- Cream, Yellow, Silver, Green, Purple
- Bloom season
- Summer, Fall
- Attracts
- Songbirds
- Tough against
- Black walnut, Deer, Drought, Pollution, Rabbits, Salt
- Native to
- Cosmopolitan
Will it survive your winters?
We score Tufted Hair Grass’s freeze-trouble range against the real coldest nights your area has recorded.
Powered by ~35 years of daily lows from the nearest NOAA weather station. A risk read, not a guarantee — a sheltered spot or mature plant beats the odds.
More plants for your zone: Zone 4 · Zone 5 · Zone 6 · Zone 7 · Zone 8 · Zone 9
See the Tufted Hair Grass in your own yard
Upload a photo and our AI designs with real plants like this one — matched to your USDA zone.
More grasses
Big Bluestem
Andropogon gerardii
Zones 4–9Full sun
Prairie Dropseed
Sporobolus heterolepis
Zones 3–9Full sun
Ravenna Grass
Saccharum ravennae
Zones 5–9Full sun
Deer Grass
Muhlenbergia rigens
Zones 6–9Full sun
Purple Fountain Grass
Pennisetum setaceum
Zones 9–10Full sun
Blue Grama Grass (Blonde Ambition)
Bouteloua gracilis ‘Blonde Ambition’
Zones 3–9Full sun