Sweet grass is a native plant that most people in the Lowcountry associate with the basket makers in Mount Pleasant. This plant, Muhlenbergia filipes, can be confused with another plant known as sweet grass or buffalo grass that grows in the northern plains of the United States and in Canada. Our local sweet grass has common names of muhly grass or purple muhly grass. It was first identified by botanist Moses Ashley Curtis in 1843 and was named for Henry Muhlenberg – 1753-1815 – an American botanist. It can grow wild behind the primary dunes along the coast from North Carolina to Texas.
This perennial is available locally for sale, grows to 40 inches in height and has beautiful tufted pinkish purple haze blooms from October into November. It requires full sun and is extremely drought-tolerant once it is established. The sweet grass plants in my garden are constantly creating new plants all around themselves. I have never tried transplanting these seedlings but just let them grow when they come up in appropriate places. Their October blooms are always much anticipated.
Sweet grass is famous throughout the United States because of our local basket makers who sell their expertly made baskets and other woven products in the City Market downtown and in stands along Highway 17 North in Mount Pleasant. This Gullah tradition, handed down for generations, uses coiled sweet grass and darker-colored native long leaf pine needles sewn together with strips of black needle rush – bulrush – or cabbage palmetto, using only a piece of bone or the handle of a spoon to push an opening for the strips to go through the sweet grass binding the coils. I cherish the sweet grass hot dish mats and sewing basket handed down to me from my mother.
We rarely see sweet grass growing wild on the Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island, but it has been reported in the wild on Kiawah, Seabrook, Dewees, Bulls, Fripp and Hilton Head.
Because of continued coastal development, not only near the beach where it grows but also along Highway 17 where the basket makers have their stands, the sellers and their supplies are becoming increasingly scarce. Although efforts are underway to cultivate more sweet grass for them, basket makers sometimes have to travel to Georgia and Florida to find their supplies.
Look for this beautiful, easy to grow native plant in our area this month and consider using it in your garden.
References for this article were: “A Guide to the Wildflowers of South Carolina,” by Richard Douglas Porcher and an article written by Robert J. Dufault, Mary Jackson and Stephen Salvo: “Sweetgrass: History, Basketry and Constraints to Industry Growth.
