Briza
Briza media
A slight, short-lived thing that seeds itself around — best in lean gravel where nothing bigger can swallow it.
Light Full sun; it takes partial shade, but the stems go lax.
Water Drought-tolerant once established — water it only while it is new.
Height 60 cm
Spread 11.8 in
Spacing 30 cm
Root depth 8–24 in
- Type
- Grass · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Foliage color
- Green
- Sunlight
- Full sun; it takes partial shade, but the stems go lax.
- Watering
- Drought-tolerant once established — water it only while it is new.
- Feeding
- No feeding required — lean soil suits it better.
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Flowering
- May
- Pruning
- Cut to the ground in late February, before growth starts.
- Overwintering
- Hardy enough to leave out through winter, unprotected.
- Mar–May Spring Growth
- May–Sep Flowering
- Sep–Nov Growing
- Nov–Dec Leaf Fall
- Jan–Mar Leaf Fall
- Plant spacing
- 11.8 in
- In-row spacing
- 11.8 in
- Between rows
- 15 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
- Root system
- A dense fibrous mat
- Working depth
- 8–24 in
- Can reach
- 5 ft down where the soil allows
- Spread
- 12–24 in across, about 1–2× the width of the plant
- Shallowest pot
- 12 in of soil
Thousands of fine roots knit the top of the soil into a turf, which is what holds a bank together and what makes an established clump so hard to lift. Prairie grasses send a few roots far below the mat as well.
The habit is Briza’s own; the figures are what that habit usually comes to at this size, not a measurement of this species. Roots follow the soil either way: a compacted pan, a high water table or heavy clay stops them well short of any of it, and deep open ground lets them go further.
- Easily lost among vigorous neighbors, so give it clear space.
Grasses, like this one.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com