How to Choose the Right Ornamental Grass
Putting the Beauty, Hardiness of Grasses to Work in Your Garden
Sep 11, 2009
In choosing the mix of plants to put in a garden, landscape designers and homeowners are increasingly turning to versatile ornamental grasses. Ornamental grasses can be used as edging plants in a border, as single plantings, or as screening for buildings or walkways.
Adding Texture, Color to Garden
Ornamental grasses are appreciated for their hardiness, lack of pests and diseases, and their ability to add texture and color to a garden. Homeowners who are environmentally conscious especially value these plants because they are drought-tolerant. Ornamental grasses include sedges, reeds, rushes, and others.
The versatility of ornamental grasses is well-known. They can be used as accent plants or in masses to create a larger visual impact. When used in repetition, grasses provide a moving, graceful quality to the landscape. They also add sound when the grasses rub against each other in the wind.
Ornamental grasses are drought- and heat-tolerant, making them an ideal choice for gardens in the South and mid-West. They require little to no pruning during the growing season, and appreciate a sunny, well-drained planting site.
An Astonishing Variety
The variety of grasses that are available today is truly awe-inspiring. Gardeners can choose a grass based on either its foliage or its seed heads. Size, shape, color and texture also vary greatly among the different varieties.
Sizes range from dwarf varieties, such as Briza media ("Quaking Grass"), which grows 2 to 3 feet tall, all the way to the well-known Cortaderia selloana ("Pampas Grass"), which can grow to 20 feet tall. Gardeners can choose from dozens of types of ornamental grass. But it's important for gardeners to keep in mind what they are trying to achieve before purchasing a variety of grass.
Grasses either grow in clumps or by rhizomes, which spread by underground roots and stems. Clumping grasses stay where they are planted and grow in size each year. Rhizome-forming grasses, on the other hand, can become invasive over time and should be avoided in a typical perennial garden.
Care and Maintenance
Care and maintenance of ornamental grasses is fairly minimal. The foliage should be cut down to the ground and removed each fall or spring (depending on bloom time). Once the foliage is removed, an application of 10-10-10 fertilizer will help the plant to recover from the temporary loss of its leaves. It's important to avoid overfertilizing, however, as an abundance of nitrogen can eventually lead to diseases and a problem called "lodging" in which the grasses actually fall over during the growing season.
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