Plant in full to most part day sun where it grows best in well-draining, fertile soil with a regular to occasional watering. It will grow slower in poor, dry soils. As with the other Cortaderia selloana cultivars, Pumila' is tolerant of both heat and cold, and is drought tolerant. This cultivar makes a stunning accent plant but placement in the garden is important as the rough leaf margins cut like a knife.

Cortaderia selloana 'Pumila' won the coveted Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit in 1993 and we grew and sold it from 1990 until 2003. It was originally thought to be a sterile male flowering plant (the species is dioecious with male and female flowers on different plants), but its seems that this cultivar produces some viable seed as a single seedling worryingly emerged in our own garden after the large plant in the garden had gone through 3 successive flowering seasons. Given the number of flowers produced this caused us to label the plant as "nearly sterile". Also concerning was that various plants were being marketed in the nursery trade as 'Pumila' and some of these were being propagated by seed. Although we only had the one seedling of this plant appear in our garden and this cultivar itself has not itself been identified as a weed pest, after the wildly invasive species Cortaderia jubata was declared a noxious weed with more recent studies also determining that Cortaderia selloana naturalizing, it led to the general concern about the planting of any Pampas Grass. Because of the problem noted with the multiple types of plants being marketed as 'Pumila' with statements that is was a sterile clone we discontinued selling it in 2003 and discontinued production of all other Cortaderia cultivars by 2010. While this plant is still grown by other nurseries and it might be a useful plant in urban environments, extreme care should be exercised when planting any plant like this in locations where seed may spread into the wild and sensitive habitats. 

The information about Cortaderia selloana 'Pumila' that is displayed on this web page is based on research conducted in our nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We will also include observations made about this plant as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens that we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We also incorporate comments that we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they share cultural information that aids others growing this plant.