How to... use ornamental grasses

ORNAMENTAL grasses add instant texture and form to the garden in any season but are especially useful at this time of year.

They can be combined with late-summer flowering perennials such as sedums and eryngiums to create a prairie effect or cleverly used to soften a planting scheme that features plants with a bold architectural outline.

Add texture

Ornamental grasses fit into mixed borders adding grace and texture with their strap-like foliage that sways in the gentlest breeze. For an exposed spot, look for the variety Miscanthus Kaskade, which produces feathery, rosy-pink blooms

WHEN you remove blanket weed from your

by pond, leave it just

of the side for a couple days, so any creatures caught up in it can return safely to

the water. during late summer.

The arching leaves with prominent white midribs turn rich bronze in autumn.

Bird booster

Plants such as pennisetum and pampas grasses have fluffy flowers and seed heads that will last until well into the new year.

These will attract a variety of birds and add winter interest to your garden. Grasses will also look brilliant when illuminated by natural sunlight and at night can be made even more interesting by using feature lighting and candles.

Shine in shade

Shade tolerant Calamagrostis Overdam makes thick clumps of thin, vertical leaves.

When they emerge in spring, they are variegated with bright yellow that, within days, give way to a striking white.

In summer, cream-brown flower plumes rise above the leaves, and are quite effective even when they are spent lasting into the new year.