Carol’s 6 favourite grasses
1 Pennisetum orientale
On dry soil, in a sunny, free-draining site, especially in the southern counties, Pennisetum orientale is an excellent choice, making a dense clump erupting with purplepink bottlebrush flowers for several months. Grow it at the edge of a border, beside a path or in gravel. Gardening in colder conditions, the newer pennisetum cultivars and selections of Pennisetum alopecuroides, many from the Netherlands and Germany, would be a better bet.
H x S 60cm x 60cm
F July-November
2 Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’
Very popular with landscapers and garden designers, this is ideal for delineating areas or creating a hedge because of its dense growth and strong, vertical stems. Vigorous and sturdy, it is nonetheless clumpforming and stays where it is put. Structural and tall without being overbearing, this is a classic grass and a tribute to the man who ushered in the grass revolution.
H x S 1.8m x 60cm
F June-October
3 Cortaderia richardii
This most graceful grass puts paid to all the derogatory remarks ever made about pampas grass. Its tall stems arch gently and its inflorescences, initially soft and silken, turn fluffier as autumn progresses. It creates a beautiful backdrop for other plants and, despite its stature, is never imposing. Tolerant of most soils, it prefers sun but is not averse to dappled shade. Just don’t plant it on its own in the middle of a lawn. H x S 2.4m x 1m
F August-November
Probably the best-loved and most used of all ornamental grasses, it is tolerant and accommodating of most conditions. It has a long period of interest, being structural during summer, wafty and colourful with pink plumes in autumn and, classically, has a ghostly presence in winter after a hoar frost. This is the cultivar we grow to lead the eye through our raised beds in the lower part of the garden.
H x S 1.8m x 1.2m
F August-October
The aptly named ‘Transparent’ is big, but so dainty that it would not be out of place in a small space. As the name suggests, it is see-through and a host of other plants may be accommodated around its skirts without any ill effects. Its elegant arching stems twinkle with thousands of tiny flowers. All molinias are happy in damp, heavy soils.
H x S 2m x 80cm
F August-October
6 Panicum ‘Thundercloud’
North American Panicum virgatum, the prairie switch grass, adds a different emphasis with twinkling inflorescences adorning its upright stems. It is sometimes sea-green and blue, sometimes crimson and red, then later it is biscuity buff, epitomising summer, autumn and winter. Its cultivar names, such as ‘Shenandoah’, emphasise its connections to the prairies and the native Americans for whom they were home.
H x S 100cm x 75cm
F August-October
4 Miscanthus ‘Flamingo’
Grasses are important in creating communities of plants that help establish habitats that benefit wildlife
5 Molinia ‘Transparent’