Native grasses
There are practical as well as aesthetic reasons to grow beautiful native grasses, writes AB BISHOP
Ornamental grasses and their look-alike friends are among the most versatile and useful plants for a garden. With such a variety of heights, foliage colours and thicknesses, grasses mix beautifully with other grasses. They also provide contrasting texture and form when interplanted with shrubs and groundcovers or grown under trees.
By choosing natives species, you can take your garden to the next level. These plants have adapted to our climate and impoverished soils. Native grasses don’t need or want mollycoddling, and are low to no maintenance. They provide incredible habitat options for wildlife, many of which have evolved together. Up to a quarter of butterfly species use grasses as host plants for their larvae, so grasses are a really easy way to encourage more flying colour in your garden. A plethora of other insects also feed on, or take refuge in, native grasses. And guess who feeds on insects? Birds, lizards and frogs!
Tussock-forming grasses provide safety for small critters, and you can create the perfect habitat for them by placing rocks, hollow logs or even small branches near the grasses, along with a shallow birdbath.
Some of the grasses, such as red-fruit saw-sedge ( Gahnia sieberiana), are huge and make effective windbreaks or hedges. Compact forms, such as Dianella ‘Little Jess’, are perfect edging plants. Even smaller options, such as Conostylis ‘Bright Sparks’, are neat and tidy along a path.
Mass planting soft grasses is a great way to create a large, low-maintenance area. It also looks sensational, especially when interspersed with pockets of colour from gaura, tulips or native daisies.
The fibrous root systems of grasses help to prevent erosion on slopes. Many species also thrive in those too-boggy, too-dry or too-shady spots where other plants sulk.
Don’t be afraid of grasses – consider their mature size, overall shape (usually rounded) and colour, as you would any other plant, and use them accordingly.
Besides the common forms, there are many cultivars, with something for every spot. Here are some to get you started.
Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Nafray’
Yes, the gently swaying, fine green foliage is attractive, but it’s the soft, mauve flower plumes in summer and autumn that get your heart racing! Often confused with the invasive African Pennisetum setaceum, this native has low seed viability, and usually won’t become weedy, but seed sometimes germinates in warm, wet winters. If you’re concerned, remove spent flower heads. Use this grass as an informal, low hedge, or mass plant on a slope for erosion control. It suits sandy to clay soils. Trim annually to one-third its size in late autumn to winter.
60cm 60cm T ST A WT CT
Kangaroo grass ( emeda triandra)
If you love butterflies and have room for only one grass in your garden, plant this beauty. Native to every Australian state and territory, kangaroo grass is a host plant for at least 13 species of butterflies. Individual plants can look a bit scrappy, so mass planting is definitely the way to go. Interspersed with a groundcover such as Grevillea ‘Bronze Rambler’, curved rows of kangaroo grass can really bring that wow factor to the garden, along with being low maintenance. Summer is when you really appreciate the texture and colour of the long leaves of this grass, which change from green to grey to orange-brown as the season progresses. The ornamental nature of kangaroo grass is further highlighted when the distinctive spiky flowers and seed heads appear in summer. Give the plants a hard cut-back in early spring to induce new, green growth.
80cm–1.5m 50cm T ST A WT CT
Knobby club-rush ( Ficinia nodosa)
As a sedge, this plant comes into its own when planted in and around water features, and it’s certainly a frog-friendly species. Conversely, it is not opposed to drying out, and may be the perfect choice for rain gardens or that tricky spot where nothing else survives. The plant’s upright form and gently arching cylindrical stems juxtapose well against larger-leafed plants, such as bird of paradise, and its attractive near-spherical seed heads add quirky interest.
50cm–1m 80cm T ST A WT CT
Blue ax-lily ( Dianella revoluta)
Dianellas are known for being go-to plants to brighten up a dry, shady spot. This makes sense, because they grow naturally as understorey plants in many types of Australian forests. A highly ornamental plant, blue flax-lily has wide, strappy foliage, with dainty purple-yellow flowers appearing on tall, wiry stems from spring through summer. These are followed by blue berries, which are loved by birds, lizards and other critters. With a compact, upright habit, the plant looks wonderful when mass planted in rows as a mini-border, or in long containers as an architectural feature. It grows in most soils but prefers one that is rich and well drained. Dianella ‘Little Rev’ is a smaller cultivar reaching 35cm high by 35cm wide. Also consider other Dianella species and cultivars, such as D. laevis, D. caerulea and D. tasmanica.
80cm 1m ST A WT CT
Lomandra longifolia ‘Tanika’
‘Tanika’ is one of those set-and-forget plants, which is why it’s so popular with gardeners, landscapers and councils around the country. It’s a much-improved, compact, fine-leafed form of the rather ungainly Lomandra longifolia. Although ‘Tanika’ suits most soils, unlike its parent it prefers to keep its feet dry. Without any input from you once it’s established, it will eventually grow into perfectly symmetrical mounds not dissimilar in shape to shaggy dog Dougal of The Magic Roundabout fame. ‘Tanika’ is a wonderful bright green, and has long spikes of small mustard-yellow flowers from April to October. Throw any landscaping challenge at this grass and it will delight you! Cut it back to 15cm above ground level every three years.
50–60cm 65cm ST A WT CT
Lomandra ‘Frosty Top’ ( L. confertifolia subsp. rubiginosa)
Lomandra confertifolia subspecies rubiginosa is a mouthful, but it’s worth remembering because there’s a bunch of relatively interchangeable cultivars
that have been developed from this subspecies. These include ‘Frosty Top’, ‘Mist’, ‘Seascape’ and ‘Crackerjack’. The mustard-yellow and maroon flower spikes of ‘Frosty Top’ contrast beautifully with the textural, dark blue-grey foliage they are nestled within. Use this grass in a rockery, as part of a mixed bed, or in individual pots on a balcony. It grows best in well-drained clay, sandy loam or gravelly soils.
15–30cm 30–50cm T ST A WT CT
Poa poiformis ‘Kingsdale’
In gardens around the world, Poa is one of the most cultivated of all grass genera. Coast tussock ( Poa poiformis) has a fairly widespread Australian distribution. This grass is native to the coastal regions of the southern half of Australia, where it grows along beach foreshores, estuaries and dunes. This sheds light on the toughness of this plant, which also thrives inland. I like to use the term ‘droast’ to encapsulate its tolerance for drought, frost and coastal conditions. ‘Kingsdale’ is a silvery-blue selection with beautiful, softly arching foliage. It’s a fabulous accent plant to use under or near burgundy-foliaged shrubs such as Cotinus ‘Grace’, purple Japanese barberry or Leptospermum ‘Starry Night’. It suits most soils. Trim plants annually, in autumn or late winter, to about 15cm above the ground.
45cm 45cm ST A WT CT