Why plant ornamental grasses in the landscape? Most are tough garden plants that are low maintenance, provide months of interest, are bothered by few pests or diseases, are drought tolerant, and are even resistant to deer and rabbit grazing.
Ornamental grasses can be used as specimen plants or massed in the garden. Many types light up the late summer and autumn landscape and I like to pair them with late-blooming perennials like black-eye Susans and coneflowers.
Ornamental grasses can be warm season or cool season and have a bunching or spreading growth habit. Warm season grasses are slow to get started in spring but outstanding from mid-summer to early winter. Cool season grasses emerge early in spring, flower by mid-summer and then their growth slows.
Bunching grasses form clumps in the garden while spreading types can quickly wander throughout a garden bed. Do a bit of research and read labels carefully when buying new types of ornamental grasses for your garden.
Annual maintenance for ornamental grasses is easy. The first year, the plants should be watered regularly to help them establish a new root system. The main annual task is giving the plants a trim in spring before the new foliage emerges. I wrap tape around the grassy clump and use hedge shears to clip back the dense foliage.
After four or five years, the plants may require dividing and should be dug up, cut into smaller pieces and replanted. I use a sharp serrated garden knife to cut up the dense clumps of roots.
There is a wide selection of grasses to grow with some growing just a foot tall and others reaching heights of eight feet or more. Here are my four favourite types of ornamental grasses:
Maiden grass (Miscanthus species), zones 5 to 9
Maiden grasses are outstanding garden plants. As a warm season grass it doesn’t really get started until late June, but quickly forms dense clumps of foliage. When late summer approaches, maiden grasses really shine as the feathery flowers emerge. There are many type of maiden grass to grow, but these three are spectacular garden plants:
- Zebra grass (Miscanthus sinensis ‘Zebrinus’) - This quirky grass grows about five feet tall and forms a spiky clump of green and gold foliage. The variegation is unusual in that the gold bands run across each leaf, not along its length. Zebra grass lends a tropical flair to the garden.
- Morning Light (Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’) - Morning Light is of the most popular types of maiden grass and for good reason; it has an outstanding vase-shaped form with narrow, arching leaves. And, if you look closely, you’ll notice a thin cream-coloured stripe runs down the center of each leaf. This subtle variegation lights up the entire plant in the morning or evening light. Then, in late summer, burgundy flower heads emerge and persist well into winter.
- Gracillimus (Miscanthus sinensis ‘Gracillimus’) - Gracillimus is an eye-catching choice for the landscape with fine-textured, arching foliage. In late summer coppery flower plumes emerge eventually fading to an attractive silver as winter approaches. The plant itself also has a great autumn colour as the fine foliage matures to a deep gold.
Fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides), zones 5 to 9
Fountain grass is a mounding grass that forms wide clumps in the garden. It’s called fountain grass because the form of the plant resembles the shape of water spraying from a fountain. The species type grows about three feet tall and wide with soft bottlebrush-like flowers emerging in late summer. Personally, I love the cultivar Hameln which is more compact than the species and grows about two feet tall and wide. It also flowers earlier in summer for a longer lasting show.
Karl Foerster Feather Reed grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’), zones 4 to 9
Way back when I got started in gardening this was the first ornamental grass I planted. And those original clumps are still thriving! Feather Reed Grass is a cool season grass that emerges early in the season and also starts to bloom sooner than warm season grasses like maiden grass. The award-winning Karl Foerster flowers in mid to late summer, growing up to five feet tall when in full bloom. I like to plant this narrow, upright grass in groups of three in a perennial border but it also looks beautiful when mass planted in the landscape.
Japanese forest grass (Hakonechola macra), zones 5 to 9
Unlike maiden grass, Japanese forest grass thrives when planted in partial shade. It has a striking form that resembles a low bamboo and when you select cultivars like ‘All Gold’, the narrow foliage is streaked in green and gold. Plant it along pathways, beneath tall trees, or at the front of garden beds.
