Grow majestic miscanthus
Silver fountains, soft feathers, morning light… miscanthus conjures up a picture of elegance. Val Bourne suggests the cultivars to go for
Silver fountains, soft feathers and morning light – miscanthus conjures up a picture of elegance
Apicks s winter beckons, tall grasses are in their element. Low-angled sunlight
up every detail as they ripple and sway, adding all-important movement and a shapely silhouette. As their heads disintegrate, they leave a gossamer veil, until you cut them back in February.
One of the most enduring winter-season grasses is Miscanthus sinensis, an Asian clump-forming grass sometimes called Japanese silver grass, or eulalia. Older forms have been grown in British gardens for more than a century and Victorian ‘wild’ gardener William Robinson (1838-1935) of Gravetye Manor in West Sussex loved the silvery plumed heads, which he called Prince of Wales’ feathers. Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932), of Munstead Wood in Surrey also used their foliage to create light and shade. She planted zebra grass, or ‘Zebrinus’, for its gold-banded green foliage, although this has no flowers to speak of.
Modern gardeners still face the same dilemma: whether to grow Miscanthus sinensis for its magnificent foliage, or for its feathery plumes. Fortunately we have far more choice these days, thanks to German nurseryman Ernst Pagels (1913-2007). He cajoled one of the oldest foliage cultivars, ‘Gracillimus’, into producing a seed crop by growing it in a warm greenhouse for a year or two. His first seedlings, raised in the 1950s, showed such diversity that he carried on hybridising and selecting, and eventually named 30 or so. Some, such as ‘Flamingo’, ‘Ferner Osten’ and ‘Malepartus’, have plumes that open to pink or red before fading to mink-brown or silver. Three of his cultivars received the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) some 20 years ago. They included ‘Kaskade’, with drooping rose-pink heads that fade to silver and buff; upright ‘Kleine Fontäne’, with drooping flowers that open red and turn pale and fluffy; and graceful ‘Undine’, with arching red plumes that turn rose-pink and buff. All have excellent winter foliage.
The shortest and most refined for foliage, ‘Morning Light’, can reach H1.2-1.5m (4-5ft), making a slender column rather than a clump. It’s been grown in Japanese gardens since the 19th century (at least) and its narrow foliage has the typical central white stripe but with white edges. Use it as a buffer between stronger colours, by weaving several through. It’s highly effective with red dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ and willowy Verbena bonariensis.
‘Cosmopolitan’ has whitebordered green foliage and mine grows on a sunny corner close to wine-red Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’. Similar ‘Cabaret’ has reverse warmer-toned cream and green variegation. Both reach H2.4m (8ft) and need a warm sunny site in well-drained soil.
Tall ‘Silberfeder’, selected by Hans Simon, is the earliest reliable flowerer. In warmer spots the awns can disintegrate before winter, but it’s reliable and very cold tolerant for those who live in cooler parts of Britain. ✿
Low-angled sunlight picks up every detail as they ripple and sway