Annual Spiky Plants

Purple Majesty Millet

• Purple majesty millet is an ornament grass in deep purple with long spiky leaves. Growing best with exposure to full sunlight, the plant’s foliage is a dark green tha t deepens to purple. Seeds should be planted before the final frost of the season. The plants require moist soil and should never dry out in between waterings. Bees, butterflies and birds are attracted to the plant because of its purple tones.

  The long flowers that grow on the purple majesty millet can be dried. In order to collect the seeds, they must be allowed to completely dry on the plant before collection. The fluffy flower stalks of the millet are sometimes used for cut floral arrangements, where they add an interesting contrast.

Ornamental Wheats

• Ornamental wheat grows with either a silver tip or a black tip. It is a soft addition to any garden, or as an accent around a small area, such as a tree or a mailbox. Ornamental wheat with a silver tip grows to 48 inches. Ornamental wheat with the black tip grows to 36 inches tall. Some people grow both types of ornamental wheat in their gardens and use a combination of the two in ornamental arrangements indoors. Like the millet, ornamental wheats offer an interesting contrast to any floral arrangement and can be mixed and matched with colorful plants and flowers.

Ornamental Canary Grass

• Canary grass is another type of ornamental grass that grows tall--up to 9 feet high. Blades of the ornamental grass are flat with a rough texture. Single flowers grow in thick clusters sometime in May and into the middle of June. Flowers are green and purple when they first appear, but turn to a beige color throughout maturing. Canary ornamental grass is one of the first to sprout up in spring. It will grow in wetter climates and is often used as a border plant. The plants can withstand continuous flooding for up to two months consecutively in the cool weather.