A vigorously growing, all gold version of the Hakone grass. It performs well in shade. The green color bleaches to creamy white when grown in full sun in cool summer climates. In hot climates and full sun they tend to burn. In the fall, the foliage takes on an orange to reddish cast, then turns light brown before collapsing in winter. Unlike many other ornamental grasses, this species dies back to the ground.
Originally from the wet, rocky cliffs in the mountains of the Tokaido district of southeast Honshu, it may take a while to become established somewhere else. Its arching form with the leaves tending to flow in the same direction makes it reminiscent of a cascading waterfall.
I captured the Japanese Hakone Grass in the Rhododendron Forest of the ‘Merian Gardens’ in Basel’s city park ‘Grün 80’.