Plant in full to part day sun. Although this grass comes from moister habitats, it is surprisingly drought resistant but looks best with an occasional watering.

The nomenclature is not entirely clear on this grass. According to the Grass Manual for the Flora of North America, there are at least 3 very similar grasses with Muhlenbergia capillaris, the smaller grass, rarely exceeding 3 feet that comes from a wide area of the southeastern United States, from Texas to Florida and north up into New England, and south into Mexico, the Bahamas, and possibly various Caribbean islands. Another very similar grass, once called Muhlenbergia capillaris var. filipes but now elevated to species level is Muhlenbergia sericea, a name resurrected because it has priority as an older name. It is a larger plant, from 3 to 4 feet tall, that comes from sandy maritime habitats on the barrier islands and in coastal woodlands of the southeastern United States. A third very similar but small grass is Muhlenbergia rigida, which is described as a common upland bunchgrass, also grown as an ornamental plant, that grows in two disjunct areas: the southwestern United States south to Chiapas, Mexico, and in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. For the time being we are still calling this plant Muhlenbergia capillaris as it is treated this way by a majority in the horticultural community. The name Muhlenbergia honors Gotthilf Heinrich (Henry) Ernst Muhlenberg (1753–1815), an American clergyman and botanist from Pennsylvania. The specific epithet means “hair-like” from the Latin words 'capillus' meaning "hair" and the connecting suffix 'aris' that means "of" or "pertaining to".

We first listed this grass in our 1993 catalog, shortly after John Greenlee introduced it to us and to many of our customers at our 1992 Field Day - the collective "Ohhh" from the audience could only be matched by the reaction to his presentation of the beautiful Muhlenbergia sericea 'White Cloud' at our 2010 Field Day. 

The information displayed on this page about Muhlenbergia capillaris is based on the research we conducted about it in our nursery horticultural library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include some of our own observations made about this plant as it grows in the nursery gardens and other gardens that we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we have received from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information that will aid others to better grow it.