Ornamental grasses
seem to divide opinion more than any other group of plants. Some
people, myself included, love them for their grace and elegance, the
way they catch the breeze and add colour and movement to the late
summer and autumn garden.
Others view them as
a passing fashion, or worse, as nothing more interesting than stray
seedlings from the lawn to be ripped out with the creeping buttercup
and bindweed.
They may be relative
newcomers to our gardens but I firmly believe that their positive
contribution is here to stay. Some designers like to use grasses in
bold contemporary blocks of single species, some in prairie style
mixtures with other late flowering North American plants, their
natural bed fellows. In my own garden I like to experiment with plant
combinations and I've found the diversity and versatility of grasses
to be indispensable, they are simply brilliant garden plants.
The cascading copper
and olive foliage of Anemanthele lessoniana tones beautifully in
shade with the fern Dryopteris erythrosora or in sun with orange
roses like 'Lady of Shallott' and makes a perfect backdrop to the sky
blue geranium 'Rozanne'. As autumn approaches the tiny droplets of
bronze flowers on long falling stems are perfect with Aster 'Monch' and Kniphofia 'Little Maid' or 'Bees Lemon'.
Low growing with a dense arching habit it's perfect for covering
difficult banks
For height without
heaviness Miscanthus 'Morning Light' is just lovely. Upright and
slightly arching at the tips with a fine white stripe through the
light green leaves, it rises slowly over the summer to form a
statuesque plant, perfect with Anemone 'Honorine Jobert; white
Hydrangea quercifolia or Fuchsia 'Hawkshead, very refined and
elegant.
As the year moves on
and the colour in the garden begins to turn, grasses with good autumn
hues shoot like flames around the skirts of fiery leaved shrubs and
trees like Acer palmatum, Cotinus coggygria and Amelanchier lamarkii. Imperata 'Rubra' has red tipped leaves all summer and many of the
Panicums have brilliant red autumn foliage, spectacular when teamed
with deep red Persicaria amplexicaulis 'Blackfield'.
If you're new to
grasses and it's all year round versatility you're after then Stipa
tenuissima is hard to beat, light and airy the foliage and long
lasting wispy flowers float among so many perfect companions
from geraniums and roses to lavender and Potentilla fruticosa cultivars, it's a brilliant
grass for any garden style.
