Ornamental grasses
Alan Titchmarsh extols the virtues of ornamental grasses that can provide colour and interest throughout the year
Despite their meteoric rise in popularity, in many ways ornamental grasses remain the unsung heroes of the garden border. I find them invaluable when planning and planting new borders, adding air and grace to every scheme. In fact, they are like the ‘glue’ that holds the rest of the more flamboyant and fleeting elements together. With their long-lasting, elegant shapes and muted tones, they have the character and poise to make eye-catching features in their own right. Best of all, they are really easy to grow and there are sizes to suit every position - in sun or shade.
Tools for the job
Why grow ornamental grasses?
- Graceful fountains and bristling shaving-brushes
- Attractive foliage
- Fluffy flower spikes
- Textured groundcover
- Autumn colour
- Winter interest
Ornamental grasses range from imposing border giants to dapper, tufted miniatures, with every variation in between. The largest Pampas and Chinese silver grass can reach well over 2m tall and are vigorous enough to be able to hold their own in a mixed border alongside the largest herbaceous perennials and garden shrubs. While at the front of the border, the colourful tufted shaving-brushes of Festuca and Carex are hard to beat. In between, there are grasses to clump together in groups that will provide foliage and flowering interest, and others to spread across the ground like a living, shag-pile carpet.
Specimen grasses The largest grasses always catch the eye and among my favourites are the Miscanthus, that form stunning fountains of slender foliage topped by reddish-brown tassels in late summer. The variety 'Kleine Fontäne' is hard to beat with its elegant sprays of white-striped, silvery leaves, or you could try the well-behaved 'Morning Light' with its cream-edged, emerald-green leaves that shine out, especially when set against a contrasting backdrop of darker foliage. If you’ve always fancied a Pampas grass, but been put off by its thuggish reputation, the compact Cortaderia selloana 'Pumila' could be the answer. It forms neat, free-flowering, clumps just 1.5m high, with long-lasting plumes.
Border fillers Medium-sized, clump-forming grasses are ideal for planting in groups to provide foliage contrast and a naturalistic feel to the border. For this reason, they are particularly effective planted alongside large-leaved perennials and shrubs. For vertical interest, try the upright clumps of feather reed grass (Calamagrostis × acutiflora 'Karl Foerster') topped by buff flowerspikes from June onwards. In a sunny spot, the wispy sprays of Stipa tenuissima can be mesmerising on a summer’s day with their feathery plumes of flowers that bleach with age.
Living carpets Low-growing, spreading grasses are a good choice for creating a seamless carpet of foliage under trees and large shrubs, for covering awkward banks or grass skirt at the base of a hedge. A river of Hakonechloa macra 'Alboaurea' foliage, for example, will light-up both sun and partial shade with its cascading hummocks of yellow-and-green-striped leaves that become red-tinted in full sun. Or you could opt for a woodland-edge planting effect using the shade-tolerant perennials alongside Bowles' golden grass (Milium effusum 'Aureum') that makes tufts of soft yellow under an open canopy. In full shade, try the slow-growing snowy woodrush (Luzula nivea) that forms loose clumps of dark green slender leaves topped by pretty white sprays of summer flowers.
Perfect edging Compact, tuft-forming grasses are ideal for edging the front of a border, growing in containers or dotting around areas of gravel. In a sunny spot, Festuca glauca can be planted closely to form an attractive blue-rinsed fringe or peppered randomly for a more natural effect. Even some tall flowering grasses, such as Pennistum villosum or even Stipa gigantea look their best spilling over the border edge. However, if you are looking for a little more formality, try parade of 1.8m-high feather reed grass (Calamagrostis × acutiflora 'Karl Foerster') standing to attention beside a seating area to provide a little shelter and privacy.
Fantastic flowers Some ornamental grasses are worth including for their flowering display alone. For sheer flower power, the Korean feather reed grass (Calamagrostis brachytricha) certainly has the wow-factor with its fluffy, plume-like, pink-tinted, silvery flowers. So too has the tufted hair grass (Deschampsia cespitosa 'Goldtau') that forms billowing mounds of silvery flowerspikes above clumps of slender foliage. The aptly named fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Hameln') produces fluffy, squirrel-tail flower-spikes in pinkish shades above mounds of bright green leaves, that turn yellow in autumn. Another favourite of mine is the blue oat grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens) that bears open tufts of blue-grey, tightly rolled leaves, topped by large, golden summer spikelets that catch every breeze – adding delightful movement and elegance to the garden scene. The purple moor grass (Molinia caerulea) is worthy of a mention, too. The lovely variety 'Transparent' is a taller see-though grass, creating a 1m-high veil of purple, feathery spikelets, or try the more compact ‘Variegata’ with its slender cream and green striped leaves.
BORDER COMBINATION: Woodsmoke
The sword-shaped, deep copper-black leaves of the New Zealand flax act as the perfect foil for the shimmering leaves of the fountain grass, which when in flower in summer, look like a cloud. The chocolate cosmos with its dark, reddish-purple, chocolate scented flowers provide contrast from mid-summer until the autumn. You will need a sunny border measuring 3m x 2m
- Phormium 'Platt's Black'
- Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Hameln'
- Cosmos atrosanguineus 'Chocamocha'
