Melica ciliata

Melica ciliata is a beautiful cosmopolitan grass, valuable for brightening up sunny and somewhat arid areas of the garden with its rather extraordinary flowering. It quickly forms a dense clump topped with delicate, fluffy flower spikes that are very bright, resembling a fountain of Bengal lights in full bloom. Well adapted to all regions, compact and truly graceful, it deserves a place in our gardens.

Melica ciliata belongs to the large Poaceae family. It is a rhizomatous grass. In nature, it occupies rocky and somewhat arid, very sunny places. A very hardy perennial, it appreciates calcareous and well-drained soils, even dry in summer. Its lifespan is quite short, especially in heavy and humid soils, but it perpetuates itself through numerous spontaneous sowings. This plant forms a compact tuft of fine, rough, grey-green leaves, which are more or less rolled up on themselves. They do not exceed 40cm (16in) in height. The generous and prolonged flowering takes place from May to July. The fine flower spikes, equipped with numerous bristles (or cilia), have a somewhat loose appearance. They measure at least 10cm (4in) in length. The flowers successively change from tender green to cream-white and then beige. These silky inflorescences, which play beautifully with light and shine in the sun, are carried by gracefully arched stems, 70 to 80cm (28 to 32in) above the foliage. The above-ground vegetation is evergreen in winter, depending on the climate.

Easy to grow and undemanding regarding soil quality, it will thrive in most of our gardens, in full sun. Once well established, this beautiful grass requires no maintenance and self-seeds here and there, wherever it pleases, often in sunny and arid places in summer, which are slightly difficult to vegetate. Ideal for adding a light and poetic touch to borders, banks, and gravel gardens, it can be combined with many other grasses (stipa, Carex comans, eragrostis, muhlenbergia) and annual or perennial plants. Easily create a naturalistic border by combining it with thistles (Echinops ritro, Eryngium planum), annual poppies, cornflowers, autumn asters (Aster laevis and A. turbinellus), and goldenrods, for example.