Plants of the Week---Ornamental Grasses

 

Ornamental grasses rarely take center stage, instead they provide backdrop, form and movement in the summer, fall and winter gardens. Ornamental grasses can be diminutive, like Blue Fescue, or dominating like Arondo donax. Most fall somewhere in between. 

Grasses grow in various shapes. Most like full sun, but a few do well in shadier spaces. Hakonechloa is one of those. It's soft, arching habit is bamboo-like. Use it to soften the edge of a water or rock garden. In the shade, the bright yellow foliage brightens up darker areas. Hakonechloa grows to 24".

Hakonechloa grows in drifts over a rock-edged stream 

Bright foliage blends with the new foliage of emerging trees at Ladew Gardens

On the other end of the spectrum Arundo donax can grow to 6 feet or more depending on the variety. This plant works well in the background of taller plants like upright sedum, Russian sage, taller rudbeckias among others. 

Arundo donax pictured with Russian sage and sedum at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

Combinations of summer and fall blooming annuals and tropical plants are the perfect way to use ornamental grasses. Pennisetum, aka fountain grasses, add movement to the garden too, as they sway with the breeze. 

The garden border isn't the only place to use grasses. Consider containers. While grasses may not overwinter in pots, they add a unique seasonal element to fall displays. 

Love the drama the grass adds to the potted evergreen

Garden designers at Longwood and Ladew Gardens rely on ornamental grasses to provide vertical lines in the garden as well as the arching habit some provide. 

Longwood Gardens added grasses to an already gorgeous display of tropical Bismarkia palms. 

The early fall Garden Walk is spectacular with the addition of grasses. 

Added to an urban landscape, grasses pair well with summer blooming Rudbeckia and Echinacea. Sedums, Rudbeckias, Salvias, Asters, Coreopsis and fall blooming mums are all natural companions in late summer and fall gardens. 

A welcome oasis in the city

Ornamental grasses are used in informal gardens and borders, but can just as easily be used in a more formal garden as a background element to sheared shrubs and hedges.

Begonias, cleome and grasses add color to the formal hedge

Stop in to see our selection of Ornamental Grasses. We have them available from May-September in our Perennial Department. For more information on all of the grasses, go to Plant Finder on our Valley View Farms' website. Check the box for Ornamental Grasses and view the wide assortment that we may carry over the course of the year. 

The Fall garden transitions to Winter

Enjoy the fall garden with the addition of Ornamental Grasses. 

Gardening Has Not Been Canceled

Gardening here in Maryland has taken on new life. I've been lucky enough to work through this pandemic, but have spent much more time at home in late afternoons and evenings. Plants are flourishing; tomatoes are too abundant to use immediately after harvest.  Luckily, they're plum tomatoes, so I'll freeze them for use later. 

Two weeks before the harvest

 Summertime, as usual here in Maryland, flips between drought and tropical storm-induced heavy rains. A friend who lives in Southern Maryland has had 11 inches or more of rain this past week! Her fruit trees have floated up into her pasture, roots and all. Still, with all of its challenges, gardening gives us a nice break from the news of the day and allows us to nurture nature on our own terms. 

Walking through the garden center today, I've made plans for more planting. The vegetable garden gets a restart. I consider this season 3 in the garden. The first round in March-April was for peas, cole crops, and lettuce. Season 2---tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, and zucchini. Season 3 will include broccoli, lettuce, and beets in my own garden, planted in pots around the patio. 

Spinach, Swiss Chard and Lettuces

Great time to plant herbs too!

Coneflowers, hardy hibiscus, sedum, ornamental grasses, asters, and mums are a few things that can be planted and give the garden color for another couple of months. Rudbeckia, heliopsis, the aforementioned coneflowers, and coreopsis all feature daisy-shaped flowers with seed centers that birds will love long after the plants finish blooming. 

Hardy hibiscus blooms are dinner plate size

Ornamental grasses

Sedum a few weeks before color

Mums

Captivating coneflowers

Black-eyed Susans

Coneflowers

Pond plants are blooming too. Lotus, waterlilies, and cannas add color to the water garden. The Koi bring delight to everyone. Watching kids feed the koi with enthusiasm is a highlight at the big pond daily at 12:30. 

David topping off the ponds

Water gardens

During storms and times that it is just too hot outside, we move inside with houseplants. Decorating with plants is fun; choosing the right pot to go with our plant and inside spaces brings a bit of nature inside. 

The dracaena is on its way to a new home

Gardening was not canceled this year. We've met many new gardeners. Please use our resources, including signage, handouts, and knowledgeable people, many who are passionate gardeners themselves. 

Keep calm and garden on!