Bunny Tails Dried (Long)

Lagurus ovatus, which translates as hare-tailed and egg-shaped, and both halves are accurate. The seed heads are plush oval tufts, soft as cotton wool, and they are the reason this grass took over modern dried floristry. Almost nothing else in a dried arrangement asks to be touched.

This is the long-stemmed cut: 20 stems at 50 to 60cm, against the shorter version that suits mantelpiece vases and buttonholes. The height is what makes it work in a floor vase or a big installation, and the stems carry a natural bend that gives the whole bunch movement rather than a row of verticals.

Most bunny tails sold in this country are grown in China or Portugal, bleached, dyed and shipped. Ours are cut on the field here and hung in the barn, so the colour is whatever a Norfolk-grown Lagurus does on its own, a warm cream with a faint sage undertone. Two things to expect. The cream deepens towards yellow over years in direct sunlight, so keep it off a bright sill. And the curved stems are natural, not a fault. If you need them straighter for a particular display, hold them over the steam from a kettle for a few seconds and ease them straight while they are warm.