If when you think about grasses in your garden you think of manicured, striped lawns or the 1970s stalwart and much mocked, pampas grass, then I hope to enlighten you and persuade you otherwise.
Grasses add form, texture and movement to a garden or border. They are a low maintenance option requiring only a tidy up if they are an evergreen or a chop back in spring if deciduous, which is a fancy term for saying their leaves die back in the winter. They can also provide the perfect foil in pots for their more exuberant annual bedding cousins. Grasses are an essential part of the planet’s ecology making up more than 40% of the land, providing essential habitat for many insects, reptiles, small and large animals.
As you can see I am a huge fan of these often overlooked planets, so much so that here at the Walled gardens we hold the Plant Heritage National Collection of Deschampsia. Three of the species of this grass are native to Britain and a visit to our collections garden shows that they are far from uninspiring and can provide an important structure and heartbeat to any garden.
Grasses lend themselves to being used in various styles of gardens and borders, but they are particularly effective in naturalistic or prairie style planting. Piet Oudolf is the Dutch master landscape designer who has pioneered this style which makes use of grasses and flowering perennial plants in bold drifts that are naturalistic and cohesive yet wonderfully attention grabbing. This style of planting has something to offer all year from the fresh, expectant surge of green growth in the spring to shimmering seed heads in summer, through to the full structural glory of full growth in the autumn and finishing with the frosted, web -entwined majesty of grasses providing a show whilst other plants have shut up shop, waiting for warmer times. We are lucky in Somerset to have one of Oudolf’s designs at the Hauser and Wirth art gallery in Bruton. It is well worth a visit if you want to get a feel for this style and how to incorporate this in your mini-meadow.
There is a grass for every occasion and every garden situation, whether your border is shady, wet, stony or dry. As with all planting, knowing your soil and aspect is key, choose wisely and you are unlikely to receive any trouble and will have to put in little effort. Plant a few of each species in a clump for maximum effect. Most grasses will divide easily and this is best carried out in spring, just as growth begins.
If you are not yet convinced by my declarations, perhaps highlighting the best attributes of a few of my favourites will entice you to give these often ignored beauties a try.
Japanese blood grass (Imperata cylindrica 'Rubra') becomes redder as the year progresses, reaching its bloody intensity just in time for halloween!
Stipa tenuissima (Mexican feather grass) is particularly captivating on breezy days if planted en masse, it ripples, flows and waves in a most peaceful and mesmorising way.
If you are looking for an accent plant, grasses can also fulfil this role and you can’t go far wrong with Feather reed grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster'). It has a perfectly upright, columnar habit which is remarkably resistant to gusts of wind. Seed heads begin as an emphemeral purple, becoming more amber in tone as the year transitions.
Finally, for a cheeky, colourful spiky edging plant go for Festuca, it comes in the wonderfully named yellow cultivar of ‘Golden Toupee’ or in an eyecatching steely blue of ‘Elijah Blue’.
