Pink Muhly Grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) has seduced garden designers for the last decade. Its haze of hot pink inflorescences set the late summer garden ablaze. But unlike other ornamental grasses, it is a surprisingly tricky plant to design with. Muhly Grass does not offer the same early season mass and volume that Switchgrass and Fountain Grass provide. In fact, through most of the summer, it sits low and wiry—barely substantial enough to cover the mulch. I planted a large mass of 120 plants beside a path in a southern garden I designed. The result was rather disappointing. Until August, it looked rather weedy and insubstantial. Once it bloomed, the effect was glorious.
