Versatile and Beautiful Ornamental Grasses for Your Garden and Landscape
If you’re looking for something new for your garden that is colorful, hardy, easy to maintain, helps control erosion, and displays multi-season interest, give ornamental grass a try. From containers and hedges to borders and mass plantings, grasses have something for everyone. They offer elegant foliage in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes and unique eye catching blooms. One of the best features of an ornamental grass is its ability to create movement and texture within the landscape!
Every garden can be enhanced by an ornamental grass. A well chosen grass brings rich texture, contrast, and movement to a space. Not to mention, it can can provide those elements throughout all four seasons. Grasses are the ‘next step’ for the gardener seeking a professional touch. Thankfully you don’t need to be a professional to grow them!
What is Ornamental Grass?
As gardeners, we tend to think of anything with long, narrow foliage as a grass. We expect that they must all grow in similar ways, but some of our best known ‘grasses’ are grass-like perennials. Ornamental grasses include four main families – true grasses, sedges, rushes and reeds – and they have very different cultivation requirements and spread in very different ways.
There are so many species of grass to choose from! Taking a few moments to ensure that the grass you love is a good fit for your space and your lifestyle can save you time and energy. Important things to consider are size and growth habit.
What Can Ornamental Grass Do for Your Garden?
Grasses fulfill many design roles in the garden – providing privacy, pattern, and strong architectural elements. They can also meet functional needs by creating habitat for wildlife or maintaining effective erosion control along a steep bank. Knowing what you want from a grass can help you narrow down your choices and decide if the way a certain grass spreads or grows will benefit your landscape.
Here are some grasses to add functionality and interest to your garden:
Muhlenbergia Pink Muhly Grass
Springs up with giant puffballs of cotton-candy pink, so airy you expect a breeze to carry them away! An absolutely showstopping source of late-season color, this native plant is also effortless to grow and tolerant of just about anything Mother Nature throws its way! Pink Muhly reaches 4 feet high and 3 feet wide, with a nicely cascading, fountainous habit of foliage and fanned out, unbelievably profuse blooms.
Give it plenty of sunshine and good soil drainage, and it will do the rest. It will withstand heat, humidity, drought, and poor soil!
Miscanthus ‘Bandwidth’
Features lacy, eye-catching multicolored foliage with an alternating yellow and green pattern that really stands out in traditional garden settings. When summer comes to a close, airy flower plumes emerge to add even more visual interest to this snazzy grass. This Miscanthus is compact with an attractive upright habit and is a real winner in borders, beds, and containers.
‘Bandwidth’ is rust resistant, vigorous, and infertile so there’s no need to worry about any errant reseeding. It is also resistant to both drought and deer, so it is very low maintenance and stress free. Treat your landscape to the beauty of this petite maiden hair and take your foliage interest to the next level!
Pennisetum ‘Puppy Love’
Has arching foliage is elegant and intriguing with ruby red accents. The lacy foliage is offset by fluffy blushing burgundy plumes which appear at the end of summer and last until the first frost so you can enjoy it all throughout the season. It does best in full sun. It looks great in a beds, containers, or even cut and put in an arrangement for some unique visual interest.
This easy to care for plant is a boon to busy gardeners. This low maintenance plant is a pure delight in sunny landscapes and one you won’t have to sweat over!
These are just a few of many types of grasses you can purchase. Explore your options because the landscaping choices you can make with ornamental grass are endless!