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Carex Bronze Curls is a graceful ornamental grass with arching copper evergreen foliage, each ending with a slight curl. Its fountainous habit adds a nice weeping look to mixed containers, and its bold colour contrasts beautifully with all the nearby green-leaved plants. The foliage has pink tints through spring, then turns golden-amber till frost. It is attractive in containers, in rock gardens and at garden’s edge, adding colour and texture to both summer and autumn displays. This low-maintenance plant quickly becomes established in borders or containers. It is extremely versatile with regard to soil types, tolerating dryness, salt winds and sandy drought-prone soils and yet will adapt to quite moist situations. It is disease, pest resistant and evergreen and will provide valuable interest to the garden.

Chloris virgata is a species of grass known by the common names feather fingergrass feathery Rhodes-grass and feather windmillgrass. It is native to many of the warmer temperate, subtropical, and tropical regions of the world, including parts of Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas, and it is present in many other areas as a naturalized species, including Hawaii, Australia, and the Canary Islands. Chloris virgata is a hardy grass which can grow in many types of habitat, including disturbed areas such as roadsides and railroad tracks, and cultivated farmland. It is known in some areas as a weed, for example, in alfalfa fields in the southwestern United States. This is an annual grass growing up to about half a meter in maximum height. Germination is greatly improved with treatment of smoke seed primer.

For the best germination results with these seeds we recommend treating these seeds with Cape Seed Primer.

USDA Zone - 8

Season to Sow - Autumn / Spring

This restio is a tall, dark green, elegant plant with large, decorative, papery sheaths along the stems. It is a good feature plant next to a pond, a swimming pool or in the garden. The stems grow from underground rhizomes, are quite thick, divided into sections (internodes) like bamboo plants and can be up to 3 m tall. At each node there is a circle of clumps of long, needle-like branches, which give the plant its horsetail-like appearance. The young stems also have a large, leaf-like structure or sheath around the stem at each node, which protects the growing point as each section is formed. As the stem grows older, these sheaths become stiff and parchment-like and stand away from the stem. When the plants are nearly ready to flower, the sheaths fall off and leave the stems with a thin line and the long, fully-grown clumps of needle-like branches. This is a very widespread species in or near the mountain ranges of the western, southern and eastern Cape, as far as Port Elizabeth. The plants grow from near sea level to an altitude of 1 600 m in fairly poor, sandy soils but always near watercourses, in seepages on mountain slopes or in areas where groundwater is present. Where there is a lot of water the plants look lush and deep green. With less water the plants are under more stress and they will be smaller with a sparser and more yellowish look. Unless well protected, the plants should not be exposed to frost and require the growing conditions of a Mediterranean climate with a reasonable amount of irrigation. Elegia capensis can be propagated by seed or to a smaller degree by division. The seeds react well to treatment with smoke or with the “Smoke Primer” seed primer. Without this treatment the germination rate is poor. The plants are best grown from seed. The plants adapt to a large variety of soil types but do not like to grow in heavy clay soils or in soils with a clay layer. The best time for planting restios is at the beginning of the rainy season, April-May in fynbos areas. The plants need regular watering to look at their best. They may be fed with standard organic fertilizers, a slow-release fertilizer or by sprinkling the surrounding soil with a small amount of ammonium sulphate during the growing season. Sometimes this species will suddenly start to look yellowish, showing a need for a fairly high nitrogen fertilizer.

For the best germination results with these seeds we recommend treating these seeds with Cape Seed Primer.

USDA Zone - 8

Season to Sow - Autumn / Spring

Previously known as Dovea macrocarpa, this is one of the smaller restios that grows up to 1m tall. The female plant has attractive dark brown berry-type flower heads and the male plant has smaller spikelets along the stems. They are popular as accent plants and striking when grown in clumps in bigger gardens. They grow well in dry areas. The seeds benefit from being treated with smoke primer before planting.

For the best germination results with these seeds we recommend treating these seeds with Cape Seed Primer.

USDA Zone - 8

Season to Sow - Autumn / Spring

Weeping love grass is a wiry, tufted perennial, growing up to 120-180 cm high. It forms large clumps with abundant drooping leaves at the base. It has an extensive, fibrous root system. Eragrostis curvula originated from South Africa and spread northwards to East Africa. It is now widely naturalized and can be found in North America, Brazil, North Africa and Australia. Germination is greatly improved with treatment of smoke seed primer.

For the best germination results with these seeds we recommend treating these seeds with Cape Seed Primer.

USDA Zone - 8

Season to Sow - Autumn / Spring

A Fantastic Foliage selection. Blue-green. Dense, compact tufts with small, upright brown plumes Summer to Autumn. Very cold hardy.

Dark green erect culms are banded with chestnut bracts, which peel off to reveal their shiny golden undersides as culms mature. Can grow to 2m tall. Can grow in water or with drought. One of the hardiest species.

Pogonarthria squarrosa is a loosely tufted grass with interesting, reddish-brown inflorescences which have led to its common name, herringbone or sickle grass. This is an erect, perennial grass, growing up to 1.2 m tall. The long, tapering inflorescence is up to 400 mm long, has a firm, straight, central axis with numerous short, usually upward-curving branches (hence the name herringbone); the spikelets are arranged all along the branches on the lower side. The spikelets are elliptic to linear, up to 8 mm long, with numerous sharply pointed, green florets, and these contrast with the red to reddish-brown glumes. Flowering time is from November to May. This grass is widespread in South Africa , growing in well-drained and especially sandy soils. It is common in disturbed places such as roadsides and old cultivated lands. Germination is greatly improved with treatment of smoke seed primer.

For the best germination results with these seeds we recommend treating these seeds with Cape Seed Primer.

USDA Zone - 8

Season to Sow - Autumn / Spring

Staberoha is a group of plants in the Restionaceae genus. The entire genus is endemic to Cape Province in South Africa. An extremely attractive restio that grows to a height of 60cm. Germination is greatly improved with treatment of smoke seed primer.

For the best germination results with these seeds we recommend treating these seeds with Cape Seed Primer.

USDA Zone - 8

Season to Sow - Autumn / Spring

Thamnochortus is a group of plants in the Restionaceae genus. The entire genus is endemic to Cape Province in South Africa. A 0.5m restio with silvery bracts found commonly on dry gravelly slopes. Makes a good feature plant. Germination is greatly improved with treatment of smoke seed primer.

For the best germination results with these seeds we recommend treating these seeds with Cape Seed Primer.

USDA Zone - 8

Season to Sow - Autumn / Spring