At this time for year you really appreciate the plants which are providing shape and interest in your garden. And for me one of the top performers has to be ornamental grasses. Indeed, I think grasses take some beating at any time of year! So I thought I’d take a look at some of the top grasses for gardens.
Grasses for Gardens
#1 Mexican Feather Grass – Stipa tenuissima
I recommend grasses for gardens as they often look good in Winter and Stipa tenuissima (or Mexican Feather Grass as it’s commonly known) is no exception. However, it definitely looks at its best in the Spring and Summer.
I think it works well dotted through a border – where its stiff stems and pale soft feathery seed heads waft. It loves a sunny, well-drained spot. Indeed in my sunny border I have a particularly handsome Mexican Feather Grass grabbing centre stage.
I have it growing along side all sorts of other plants. Gaura, Ehcinaceas, roses, Phlox, Campanulas, a Geranium Phaeum Album (which is meant to like shade, but mine seems fine in sun!). You name it, it’s there in the flower bed! But despite such stiff competition, the feather grass holds its own and looks lovely.
My sunny border blog has more on this planting scheme, if you’re interested.
Another reason I love this grass is that the seed heads are a great winter food source for finches and other seed eating birds.
I think Mexican Feather Grass looks particularly good with pink coloured flowers such as the Echinacea purpurea Magnus which you can see behind the grass in the picture above. It also looked lovely this year when I popped a pink Gaura next to it – sorry I can’t recall the variety.
#2 Japanese Blood Grass – Imperata cylindrica ‘Red Baron’
If you have a hotter colour scheme in mind, and want a grass to work with it I’d recommend Japanese Blood Grass, more formally known as Imperata cylindrica ‘Red Baron.’ Grasses for gardens don’t come much more dramatic than this beauty. It’s brilliant red spikes fade to bright green at the base and then become transluscent with age.
With the light flashing through it, it’s stunning. I’ve seen it planted really effectively with bright yellow verbascum and chocolatey red plants such as Chocolate Cosmos.
It’s relatively slow growing, so I’d plant in groups of three or five in a border for impact – and give it moist, humus-rich soil in full sun.
Of course I love its drama in the Summer, but my reason for loving this grass is that it also looks great now. Here’s a photo of mine (I have it on my patio) taken five minutes ago.
Admittedly its looks are at another level in the Summer. In the red corner of my patio it contrasts with ferns, my Enstete (banana plant) and Heuchera Fire Chief. But in the Winter, there’s a still, grace to it. The Red Baron becomes more of a faded, distinguished gentleman – I love him. And as sure as night follows day, he’ll be back to his red rumbustious red Baron self soon enough!
#3 Uncinia Rubra
Uncinia Rubra is another understated gentleman. He has reddish-brown glossy leaves and unlike many grassses doesn’t get too big – he grows about 30cm tall and he doesn’t like full sun. So if you’ve only a small, semi-shaded space, say on a patio why not pop this chap in a pot.
He will reward you by looking magnificient in the Summer and will still look amazing when all the showier plants in your garden have died back. For instance, the photo below of him I took this morning.
Bigger Grasses for Gardens
#4 Australian Blue Grass – Poa Labillardierei
If you want something a bit bigger – for a border or a container, I’d recommend Poa Labillardierei. It is meant to be a semi ever-green grass but mine stays a good colour all year round! It has lovely slender slightly limey blue-green arching leaves which grow up to 60cm long. This grass has sprays of purplish flowers in mid Summer but I’d happily have it even if it didn’t produce them.
I initially had the grass in a container with heathers, ivy and a Skimmia – you can see how I planted up this Autumn container here . But a year on and this grass has grown and grown. He’s a bruiser! So I’ve moved the other plants on and he’s almost got the container to himself. Again as you can see below, he looks fantastic at this time of year.
If you’re going to have this grass in a border, give it sun, light well drained soil…and room! It will be a real feature at 1.2 metres high and 0.8 metres wide. In my container I originally coupled it with purply pinks and I’d do the same in a bed. I think it would look really good with Hylotelephium (sedum to you and me, why the heck did they change its name?) or maybe some Verbena bonariensis. I can really picture the lovely, airy Verbena swaying around this grass.
#5 Switch Grass – Panicum Squaw
Another of the grasses for gardens which has a similar stature is Panicum Squaw. It grows about 1.2 metres tall and I think it looks absolutely stunning in a pot. But you could also plant it in a border. Heleniums or Salvias would be good companions for it.
In its prime, Panicum has lovely narrow green leaves, these flush from green to a purplish red in Autumn. It’s upright form mean that its long leaves form a really elegant arc. It also produces lovely airy pinky, chestnut-brown flower spikes in the Summer. Gosh I’m making it sound like a real mish-mash!
To be honest that’s because this is a grass that’s always changing – and although the experts say it isn’t evergreen, mine – with its ghostly almost silvery brown dead foliage – is still looking lovely in late January.
#6 Frosted Sedge Grass – Carex Frosted Curls
This is on my list of grasses for gardens as once again it’s a year round performer and it’s sooooo easy. It produces these amazingly attractive arching silvery tufts which curl at their ends and sit as a dense tussock. It reminds me of an early Beatles haircut!
If you’re a neat freak you may not like it as you’ll be itching to comb it. Indeed they suggest you comb it in the Winter to remove any dead growth but I don’t do that. As with all my grasses, in the Winter I run my fingers through the plant just gently dragging out any bits which come lose. Very very gently.
Great for pots, this grass is also a good low maintenance plant to pop at the front of a sunny or partially shaded border. It grows about 30cm high and spreads about 45cm.
Limed Coloured Grasses for Gardens
#7 Milium effusum ‘Aureum’
A lot of my garden is in shade but happily there are grasses that love low light. For instance I have Milium effusum adding zing to my semi-shaded woodland style bed. The colour scheme for this bed is meant to be lime green, limey-white, purple and hot pink. I accidentally managed to put some hot red in the bed too (Crocosmia Lucifer) but that’s an error on my part which I’m hoping to rectify in 2022!
Anyway, back to what I was meant to be talking about! The lime green plants in this border are Silene Fimbriata, Euphorbias, some lime coloured hostas, a lime coloured Heuchera and the grass, Milium effusum Aureum.
I only planted one clump a couple of years ago so it’s still relatively early days yet. But it has already spread a bit by self-seeding which is good news. And I can see that the lime green is illuminating the gloom of this bed brilliantly.
It theoretically grows about 60cm tall and spreads about 30cm but mine isn’t that big yet. I’ve read that it likes moist, almost boggy soil, and I think my bed, which has a lot of trees shading it, could therefore be a bit dry for the grass. So it may not achieve its full height, but I’m hopeful that in time it will get there.
#8 Hakonechloa
If you are looking for a lower growing grass to make a statement in a sunny border, and are again looking for a lime colour, I’d recommend Hakonechloa.
I have mine in a pot, but you really see what this grass is capable of when it’s planted in a large group, with real verve. Then it’s an ornamental grass that’s hard to beat. It’s fantastic next to more structured plants such as when planted under hostas, or lining the edge of paths and borders. The picture above is in a huge garden, but a signifcant clump in a smaller spot would look amazing too. I should say however, this grass does right back in Winter.
Grasses for Gardens – I could go on!
To be honest I could go on and on suggesting grasses for gardens. I mean what about Muhlenbergia capillaris, Commonly known as Pink Muhly grass? I don’t have it in my garden but if you had space for a swathe of it, (it grows 1 metre high) it would look superb.
Or Pampas Grass – I know it’s a bit of a cliche, and sounds like it belongs in the era of Sodastreams, fondue sets and tank tops – but there’s no denying it’s lovely. At 2.5-3 metres high and almost 2 metres wide it could provide an amazing bit of impact in the right spot.
On a much much smaller scale, I’ve some other grasses in pots which look wonderful, but I can’t list them here as I can’t recall what they are! But without fail all have thrived and look fab.
In essence, I feel that so long as you’re mindful of the height it will grow to and its light preference, you can’t go wrong with a grass.
Grasses are easy, no nonsense plants. In the cold, quiet of Winter many of them can be relied on. They give your garden beauty, elegance, structure and interest – when much showier plants have faded away.
I wouldn’t be without them. Happy gardening x