Phalaris arundinacea v. picta 'Feesey'

Phalaris arundinacea var picta 'Feesey', is a selected cultivar with distinctive white-striped variegation suffused with a pale pink colouration at the bases of the stems most noticably during the cooler periods of early spring and autumn. Named for the late Mervyn Feesey, the horticulturalist and grass specialist from Barnstable, who in 1983 wrote the Wisley Handbook for Grasses and Bamboos for the RHS, 'Feesey' is a handsome bamboo-like grass, with pale arching leaf-blades, finer than the varietal picta, with the variegated stripes also being a cooler whiter shade of white. It prefers cool temperatures and during the summer months when it tends to become dormant it can be cut back as the flower panicles start to appear to encourage a new flush of young foliage growth for the autumn.

Growing to about 60 cm high, this cultivar forms a highly ornamental tall-growing goundcover, its dramatic foliage forming a solid architectural block of shimmering white. Like all grasses it spreads by rhizomatous growth and is best planted in a larger space where it has room to develop as a mass planting or in a large tub or container.

It prefers a damper situation and a boggy spot or the margin of a pond is ideal if space allows. It also tolerates drier conditions well.