Ornamental grasses for the masses
By Amy McDowell
Rippling gently
in the breeze and shimmering in the sunshine, ornamental grasses enliven
landscapes in late summer and fall. Grasses come in every size, shape and
color, and the plethora of choices may overwhelm browsing shoppers at the
garden center.
If you’ve got
room in the garden for just a couple of grasses, plant a feather reed grass
(Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’) for its striking upright growth and compliment
it with the rounded growth of a fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides
‘Hameln’). Karl Foerster feather reed grass grows five feet tall and has dark
burgundy seed heads in the summer that fade to beige in the fall. The mounded
‘Hameln’ fountain grass grows two feet tall and has pinkish-brown foxtail-like
seed heads.
Regardless how
much space you have in the garden, ornamental grasses soon get to be like so
many new garden adventures—addictive. Soon you’ll want to experiment with the
broad palette of different colors.
For white variegation, consider ribbon grass
(Phalaris arundinacea), which tops out around two and a half feet. Striped
feather reed grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Overdam’) is roughly the same
height with burgundy seed heads in the summer like ‘Karl Foerster’. Miscanthus
sinensis ‘Variegatus’ has creamy white variegation and a rounded four-foot
grass.
For yellow
variegation, plant Alopecurus pratensis ‘Aureovariegatus’ or golden hakone
grass (Hakonenchloa macra ‘Alboaurea’). Alopecurus grows upright to about one
foot and has bright yellow variegation in the spring and red-brown foxtails.
Golden hakone grass needs some shade, where the floppy golden grass looks
terrific with blue hostas. It grows about 18 inches tall.
Everyone who
grows annual purple fountain grass wishes it were a perennial, and the way
plant hybridizers work, it won’t be long before we see it. In the meantime, the
best red grass that will survive our winters is Japanese blood grass (Imperata
cylindrica ‘Rubra’). It isn’t as striking as purple fountain grass, but its
green leaves are streaked with blood red edges and tips.
Finally,
ornamental grasses can add crisp blues to the garden. Blue fescues are the best
known, but they require well-drained soil in order to survive our winters.
Grasses are tough perennials and killing a blue fescue with heavy soil is
aggravating. Panicum virgatum ‘Heavy Metal’ is a sharp blue-gray grass that
grows to three feet. It has arching leaves and airy panicles of burgundy seed
heads.
Don’t be afraid to dabble with ornamental grasses. Betcha can’t plant
just one.
Amy McDowell is an Iowa
Certified Nursery Professional. She has a degree in horticulture and has worked
in the field for ten years. She lives and gardens in Polk County, Iowa, United States.
