Unique Features: This is the patriarch of the Feather Reed grass family.  Karl Forester grass originated in Germany in 1950 and is named after its developer.  It is widely (over?) planted in our area and the rest of the world because it works so well in varied planting conditions. It is a cool season grass which starts growing and blooming earlier in the season.  Karl Foerster actually blooms several weeks earlier than most of the Calamagrostis family with reddish brown flowers that mature into golden to buff sterile seed heads persisting through summer, fall and into winter.  It also has the ability to thrive in wet soils as well as very dry soils when established.  When grown in dry conditions the amount of foliage at the base of the plant is smaller giving the appearance of a column of stalks which move with the wind.