Create drama with grasses
Ornamental grasses are a key component of garden design. Here’s our pick of the best
Ornamental grasses are fantastically versatile. They add movement and sound when their slender stems sway in the breeze, and as the flowers and foliage fade in autumn they turn a rich palette of soft browns and golds, with their intricate seedheads capturing the morning dew and first frosts. In recent years they’ve become associated with spectacular prairie-style planting schemes where they’re planted in large drifts and blocks, but you don’t need a meadow to create the same feel. Besides, they’re very much at home among traditional herbaceous border schemes, or even in patio containers. Grasses come in all shapes and sizes: from low-growing, compact plants perfect for path edging to the towering specimens that can be used as a screen or focal point. So, whatever your garden size, style or location, there’s sure to be a grass for you.
1 BEST FOR CONTAINER GROWING Festuca glauca
Forming low-growing hummocks of grey-blue, needle-thin leaves, this compact grass is perfect for growing in pots and its evergreen foliage provides structure for container displays all year round. Flower spikes appear in summer and fade to brown. Comb through the plant in late winter to remove any dead foliage. Plant in spring with dainty white violas and dwarf white narcissus, then follow with white or purple summer bedding and perennials such as salvias, Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Sonata Series’ and Chaenostoma cordatum (bacopa) ‘Snowflake’. H30cm (12in) S25cm (10in)
2 BEST FOR MOVEMENT Hordeum jubatum
Foxtail barley is a short-lived perennial, but it can be treated as an annual and is easy to grow from seed. It will self-sow in free-draining soil in a warm, sunny position and produces delicate pale pink, silvery, barley-like flowers. Plant in drifts and the flowers will sway in the breeze creating attractive waves. Plants thrive in gravel gardens or at the front of a border where it can be interplanted among dainty plants that have an airy quality, such as Shirley poppies, love-in-a-mist or Verbena bonariensis ‘Lollipop’, a shorter-growing cultivar. H60cm (2ft) S30 (12in)
3 BEST FOR WINTER STRUCTURE Miscanthus sinensis ‘Malepartus’
This majestic plant has fine arching green leaves striped white down the centre and spectacular purplish-brown silky flowers that glisten in summer. Foliage turns a lovely russet brown in autumn and holds its shape into late winter when it can be cut down to the ground. Plant in blocks or drifts to form natural screens or as specimen plants in a border to add strong vertical accents. Needs a sunny, open position and well-drained soil. H2m (6½ft) S1.2m (4ft)
4 BEST FOR COLOUR Imperata cylindrica ‘Rubra’
For striking colour it’s hard to beat Japanese blood grass, with its narrow upright leaf blades that are green at the base then blood red and deep burgundy towards the tip. Backlit, the leaves glow like flickering flames. It’s not completely hardy, so plant it in a sunny spot in well-drained soil and mulch in autumn or grow in a container and bring under cover in winter. Plant with heleniums and rudbeckia or, for a dramatic contrast, alongside blue-flowered hardy plumbago (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides). H40cm (16in) S30cm (12in)
5 BEST FOR FLUFFY FLOWERS Pennisetum villosum
A graceful plant with fine slender leaves and large, fluffy, caterpillar-like flowers of whitish-green that take on purple tints as they mature. It’s a tender perennial that’s often grown as an annual, but it may survive winter in a mild area. Plant in a sunny, well-drained location and add a mulch to protect its roots from the cold. It works well edging borders, but also makes a good container plant, and can then be brought under cover in late autumn to protect it from the worst of the winter cold and wet. H and S60cm (2ft)
6 BEST FOR HEIGHT Stipa gigantea
This statuesque grass has a delicate, transparent quality. Clumps of slender leaves grow to about 60cm (2ft) tall, then produce towering stems topped with delicate oat-like flowers from midsummer. Once the seeds have been shed, the seedheads continue to look good well into winter. Plant so it can catch the sun and its seedheads will shimmer like gold. Clumps are hardy but need full sun and a light, well-drained soil. The leaves have sharp edges so wear gloves and long sleeves when handling. Comb through the plant in spring to remove dead foliage. H2.5m (8ft) S1.2m (4ft)
7 BEST FOR SCREENING Calamagrostis acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’
The erect habit of this stiff grass makes it perfect for use as a screening plant – position it in rows to create an unusual hedge. It’s one of the earliest grasses to start into growth in spring when slender green leaves and stems emerge followed by wispy, buff-coloured flowers. It happily grows in full sun or light shade in most soils as long as they’re well-drained. The slender columns of bleached, straw-like stems stand well throughout winter. H1.8m (6ft) S60cm (2ft)
8 BEST FOR GROUNDCOVER Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’
Planted in large drifts at the edge of a path or beneath trees or shrubs, this wonderful low-growing ornamental grass creates a soft floaty feel with its tumbling cascades of striped yellow and green leaves. Plant in well-drained soil in full sun or part shade – the leaves can develop red tints when grown in full sun. Cut back to the base in spring. H35cm (14in) S40cm (16in)
9 BEST FOR SEEDHEADS Chasmanthium latifoilum
A rarely grown grass that originates from North America where it’s also known as northern sea oats. Its loose clumps of broad leaves resemble bamboo, accompanied by masses of unusual flat flower heads that look as though they’re been pressed by an iron. The whole plant dries to a lovely rich russet-brown colour in autumn. Cut back stems to ground level in early spring. It needs fertile soil that’s moist but well-drained in full sun. H1m (3ft 3in) S60cm (2ft)
10 BEST FOR STRIPES Miscanthus sinensis ‘Zebrinus’
An upright grass with a fountain shape thanks to its elegant arching stems and foliage. Its ‘zebra’ name comes from the cream horizontal stripes across its green leaves. This variegation is temperature dependent and usually appears in midsummer, but the leaves can scorch in full sun, so plant in light shade. In hot summers, silky, fingerlike, coppery-pink flower spikes can appear. The foliage turns a tan colour in autumn. Cut down in late winter to allow new growth to appear. H1.2m (4ft) S45cm (18in)