Cold hardiness & minimum temperature

Is Purple Love Grass (Eragrostis spectabilis)cold hardy? Hardiness zone & min temp

Also called purple love grass, tumble grass, petticoat grass.

More about purple love grass

About Purple Love Grass

Eragrostis spectabilis · also called purple love grass, tumble grass · flowering

Purple love grass is a fine-textured native North American ornamental grass prized for its airy, reddish-purple seed cloud in late summer. Extremely drought-tolerant once established, it thrives in poor, sandy soils and full sun. The seed heads detach in autumn and tumble like tumbleweed, dispersing seed naturally across the landscape.

Cold limit: USDA 5–9 · RHS H6 (−20°C to 38°C)

What purple love grass's hardiness rating actually means

Yes — purple love grass is genuinely cold hardy. Rated RHS H6 and USDA 5–9, it lives outdoors all year and needs winter cold rather than protection from it. Its RHS rating of H6 means: Hardy throughout the UK and northern Europe. On the US scale that maps to USDA 5–9 — the zones where it can be left outdoors year-round.

New to these scales? The USDA hardiness zone map explained covers how the zone numbers work, and you can find your own zone with the zone finder.

Minimum temperature — and what happens below it

Minimum survivable temperature is roughly about −20 to −15 °C. Purple Love Grass is built for winter — once established it takes hard frost and snow in its stride.

Concretely, for purple love grass as it gets too cold:

It tolerates winter lows to about −20 to −15 °C once established.
Below its rated zone, the visible damage is browned or blackened top growth and, in the worst case, a killed crown or root.
First-year, newly planted, or container-grown specimens are noticeably less hardy than established garden plants — the roots are exposed.

Can purple love grass go outside or overwinter — and where?

Plant it out within USDA 5–9 and it overwinters with little or no help.
It does not want to come indoors — a warm winter room actually weakens a hardy plant by denying it dormancy.
The real risks in its range are waterlogging, wind-rock on young plants, and a late hard frost on new growth — not ordinary winter cold.

Work back from your local frost dates with the frost-date calculator: the last spring frost and first autumn frost are what really decide when purple love grass can be outside. US growers can check USDA zones; UK growers should use the RHS hardiness ratings, which match the H6 figure above.

Purple Love Grass hardiness — frequently asked questions

Is purple love grass cold hardy?

Yes — purple love grass is genuinely cold hardy. Rated RHS H6 and USDA 5–9, it lives outdoors all year and needs winter cold rather than protection from it. An outdoor plant. Purple Love Grass is hardy across USDA 5–9; it belongs in the ground or a frost-proof container, not on a windowsill, and many types actively need a cold winter to perform.

What is the minimum temperature purple love grass can survive?

Minimum survivable temperature is roughly about −20 to −15 °C. Purple Love Grass is built for winter — once established it takes hard frost and snow in its stride.

What hardiness zone is purple love grass?

Purple Love Grass is rated USDA 5–9 and RHS H6 — Hardy throughout the UK and northern Europe.

Can purple love grass survive winter outside?

Plant it out within USDA 5–9 and it overwinters with little or no help. It does not want to come indoors — a warm winter room actually weakens a hardy plant by denying it dormancy. The real risks in its range are waterlogging, wind-rock on young plants, and a late hard frost on new growth — not ordinary winter cold.

What happens to purple love grass below its minimum temperature?

It tolerates winter lows to about −20 to −15 °C once established. Below its rated zone, the visible damage is browned or blackened top growth and, in the worst case, a killed crown or root. First-year, newly planted, or container-grown specimens are noticeably less hardy than established garden plants — the roots are exposed.