Greater Quaking Grass Seeds (Briza maxima)

Briza maxima

Large quaking grass, love grass, cuckoo bread, trembling grass: its flattened spikelets hang from stalks so fine that they quiver at the slightest breeze — hence its name, “trembling grass.” When dry, they produce a soft, continuous rustling that adds a sound dimension to the garden, something rare among ornamental plants.

Characteristics:

• Dangling spikelets: initially green tinged with purple, they turn straw-yellow as they dry.
• Elegant clump: blue-green linear leaves topped with fine, graceful stems.
• Excellent for dried bouquets: remarkably long-lasting, it keeps for years without losing its shape.
• Self-seeding: once established, it returns year after year.

Sowing advice:

• Exposure: sunny.
• Soil: light, sandy, well-drained and rather poor — it is a grass of dry Mediterranean meadows. It tolerates drought well and dislikes stagnant moisture. Do not enrich the soil: in rich soil, its fine stems flop.
• Method: no stratification required. Sow in spring or autumn, directly in place, broadcast or in small clumps, barely covering the seeds. See how to sow your seeds.

Care advice:

• None. Watering is unnecessary once established. Leave a few flower heads to produce seed for natural self-sowing.

Harvesting advice:

• For dried bouquets, cut the stems when the spikelets are still green tinged with purple, before they are fully mature: they will turn golden as they dry without falling apart. If harvested too late, they shed their seeds.

Beneficial pairings:

• It pairs well with hare's-tail grass, another grass for dried bouquets, or adds lightness to beds of purple coneflower. See our seeds for poor, dry soil.

Benefits for biodiversity:

• Its seeds feed small seed-eating birds in late summer and autumn.
• Its clump provides low shelter for beneficial insects, while its roots help stabilize light soils.

Uses:

• Wildlife gardens, rock gardens, borders and pots. Above all, it is indispensable for dried bouquets, wreaths and handmade arrangements.

Symbolism:
Its nickname, “love grass,” comes from an old tradition: young people would offer one another a quivering flower head as a discreet declaration of love, the plant's trembling evoking romantic emotion.

Harvesting your own seeds:
Leave a few flower heads to turn fully golden on the plant, then shake them over a container: the seeds will fall away on their own. It also self-seeds spontaneously in the garden. See how to store your seeds.

Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Volcanoes of Auvergne, we choose reproducible, non-hybrid varieties, tested for their germination rate, carefully sorted and packaged, with no chemical treatment. Our belief: to give gardeners back the ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.

Add movement and sound to your garden with this quivering grass.