Fakahatchee Grass

Fakahatchee Grass, Tripsacum dactyloides, is a large clumping native grass and a wild relative of corn. Flat blades up to an inch wide build a fountain-shaped clump, and stout flower spikes rise on tall stems from late spring into summer. Landscapers use it as a screen, a border, or a rain garden anchor. It grows wild along river banks, wet hammocks, and swamp edges across Florida and most of the eastern United States, hardy in USDA zones 6 through 11. Give it full sun to part shade and sand, loam, or clay that stays moist; it takes flooding and standing water, then moderate drought once established. Clumps reach 4 to 6 feet tall and 2 to 4 feet wide. It stays evergreen where winters are frost free and browns back after hard freezes. It takes salty wind but not direct spray and hosts Byssus, clouded, and three-spotted skipper caterpillars.