Bunny Tails - Lagurus Ovatus

Lagurus ovatus Bunny Tails / Hare's Tail Grass

Soft, fluffy, cream-coloured oval flower heads no bigger than a quail's egg, held on slender stems above a tidy mound of grey-green foliage — irresistibly tactile, almost impossibly cute, and one of the most reliable ornamental grasses for both fresh and dried cottage garden arrangements.

There are not many plants that visitors to the garden actually want to stroke. Bunny Tails is one of them. Each soft, downy, cylindrical flower head genuinely does feel like a baby rabbit's tail — so pettable that children (and quite a few adults) cannot resist running fingers across them. Beyond the obvious appeal, this is a properly useful ornamental grass: a tidy hardy annual that grows to 30–45cm in compact clumps, flowers from July through to autumn, and dries to a soft creamy beige that holds its shape for years. Native to the Mediterranean, drought-tolerant once established, equally happy in containers, gravel gardens and the front of cottage borders. Self-seeds politely.

A note on growing

Easy and forgiving. Sow direct outdoors from March to May, or in September for autumn-sown plants that will flower earlier the following summer. The seeds are larger than most ornamental grasses; sow at 1cm depth in well-drained soil and thin to 15cm spacing. Like Briza, Bronze Fennel and most Mediterranean plants, Bunny Tails prefers lean ground — do not enrich the soil with compost or fertiliser. Full sun. Drought-tolerant once established. Self-seeded plants will reappear in following years; pull excess seedlings or move them where wanted.

Where it shines

At the front of cottage borders where the soft tactile heads can be brushed by passers-by, in containers and gravel gardens, and especially in the cutting garden. Bunny Tails is one of the very best dried flowers we grow at Salle Moor Hall Farm — pick when the heads are fully fluffy but before they start shedding seed, hang in small bunches in a warm, dark, dry place, and the dried heads will hold their colour and softness for years. Outstanding in dried wreaths, everlasting arrangements and craft projects. Children absolutely adore them.

Plant alongside

For a meadow-style cutting garden, plant alongside Briza Maxima and the soft white clouds of Ammi majus. For drying, harvest alongside Bupleurum 'Griffithii', Statice and Bells of Ireland for a coordinated everlasting harvest. In the border, the soft cream tones complement almost any colour scheme — particularly beautiful next to the deep crimson of Amaranthus 'Love-Lies-Bleeding' or the soft pinks of Achillea 'Pastel Mixed'.