Thamnochortus insignis (foreground) backed by Cannomois grandis create a dramatic display in Ginny Hunt’s garden in Watsonville, California. Photo: Martin Grantham
Gardeners find the textures, architecture, and flowering tassels of South African restios—plants in the family Restionaceae—appealing. Swaying, unbranched species move like kinetic sculptures in the wind.
Overall growth resembles bamboo, with upright culms ascending from a network of underground rhizomes. Like bamboo, there are running restio species, but those generally available in the western United States are densely clumped or spread only moderately.
Juvenile plants may begin as a mass of finely branched fluff, gradually growing to tall, unbranched reeds; many species remain finely branched with maturity. Leaves are reduced to scales or bracts, and stems take on the task of photosynthesis. Stem color ranges from chartreuse through dark green to powder blue. Almost all species are dioecious, having separate male and female plants with differing flower tassels.
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