When planning our new bird garden, Ornamental Millet seemed like a natural fit. Pennisetum glaucum comes in several varieties, and we have two in the bird garden at BioWorks. ‘Jester’ has deep green and purple leaves with purple seed heads. ‘Jade Princess’ is a vivid green with deep reddish-orange seed heads.
Both varieties grow to about 3 feet, and are said to be hardy to zone 8. If these plants don’t survive a winter freeze, there’s a good chance they will re-seed themselves. They like full sun and will tolerate dry conditions once they are well-established.
Millet is a common food for humans and birds alike. The millet most commonly produced for human consumption is Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum). Birds who are known to be drawn to millet include doves, sparrows and juncos, cardinals, painted buntings, and indigo buntings. We look forward to seeing which bird species enjoy the seeds provided by our new millet plants.
NICE looking plant! i'm always on the lookout for a (FL) native plant...OR any plant that will tolerate the winter here...and then also tolerate the times of drought! AND attracting & feeding all those birds is a PLUS too!
ReplyDeletethanks!