Susie’s Garden
The grass may be greener – or redder, bluer, more silver or gold! Our expert advises on popular ornamental grasses
One of the garden trends of recent years has been the use of ornamental grasses. I grow lots of different varieties in my garden where they mix happily with perennials and annuals.
They’re a soft backdrop to flowers, add texture and colour, are long-lasting and have beautiful flower plumes that provide seeds for birds. I like the effect of weaving grasses through the border which adds to the natural look.
One of my favourites is golden oat grass, Stipa gigantea. It starts as a clump of fine leaves and starts flowering in June. From arching stems hang delicate gold droplets, absolutely beautiful when the sun is behind them, especially in the evening light when they seem to shimmer. This tall grass carries on looking good right through the winter and, unless it gets damaged by wind, I don’t cut down the seedheads until March.
Its shorter relative Mexican feather grass, Stipa tenuissima, is also delightful, with wispy fluffy plumes of silvery flowers that turn straw coloured in winter. It sways in the slightest breeze, adding movement as well as subtle colour, and each year I find a few seedlings around the parent plant – just the right amount and not too many – which I transplant to other parts of the garden.
A grass that can produce a lot of seedlings is foxtail barley, Hordeum jubatum. A couple of feet tall, it likes the sun so I grow it in gravel, and I deadhead it which stops it seeding and makes it re-flower. It looks gorg geous s with its delicate pink b arley yhe like flowers that move in th breeze. Another vigoro ous seeder is pheasant’s ta ail grass, Anemanthele lessoniana, and I get roundr d this by growing it in a pot on the paving.
There’s a good colour range in the foliage of grasses. Steely blue, silver, bronze or blood-red, they really add to our gardens. Some have purple plumes of flowers, some, like the huge pampas grasses, are creamy white. Some are spreaders so check the label before buying. Although it’s pretty, beware the variegated grass ‘Gardener’s Garters’! But many stay in nice tight clumps, perfect for front gardens, for growing in gravel or for mixed borders.