It is Muhly Grass, and I see it planted everywhere. It’s around homes, and it’s in islands in the middle of roads, and it’s in shopping area parking lots. It’s everywhere in this region. And it is a “sweetgrass” plant.
It also comes in a white version that I saw just the other day. Here is the pink variety along the entrance to my development.
When the sun catches the blooms, they glow. The white ones literally look like spot lights swaying in the wind.
All of these blooming grasses have delighted me over the years, and I had other blooming grasses, not the Muhly, in my Virginia and Maine gardens. Muhly “sweetgrass” is new to me.
The road outside of my development has palms and Muhly grass planted. But this Muhly grass won’t be blooming this year, and that’s because it’s being “harvested” by local people in the dark of the night for “sweetgrass basket” making, which is a big market here. The harvesters pick stems from the middle of a Muhly grass, leaving the outside stems intact.
Here is a link to more Muhly grass information from Clemson University, which has a big horticultural division.
https://www.clemson.edu/cafls/demo/plant_profiles/muhlenbergia-capillaris-pink-muhly-grass.html
Louisa Enright's Blog 