Drought Tolerant Ornamental Grasses

In the summer tiny blue flowers form, resembling little balls, adding a bit of additional decorative appeal. It's drought resistant, so no need to water. Even pests seem to avoid it, eliminating the need for costly pesticides.

Join the revolution. Long a staple of riotous English cottage borders and calm Japanese tea gardens alike, US gardeners are finally catching up to the ease and carefree beauty of well-chosen grasses in their own spaces.

Just one will elevate your garden to designer status! Adagio swings on the scene in early spring with loads of silvery green foliage arching out like a fountain. Once you see Adagio Maiden Grass backlit by the sun on a crisp fall evening, though, you...

Wait until you see it backlit by the sun. Big drama for small urban spaces! There is a revolution happening right now in home gardening. They simply take up too much space. Not a big revolution.

Fireworks brings deep beautiful color wherever you plant it, even in containers! It grows 24” to 36” tall and holds its color all season long, even deep onto the fall. ‘Fireworks' breaks color barriers with a deep maroon-purple center vein flanked...

It has an upright habit, with a gentle cascading effect (to the outside foliage), lending a touch of additional elegance to its form. Delightful, blue-tinted foliage quickly bursts into bright shades of eye-catching red with this remarkably colorful switch...

* It has green arching foliage to 3 feet in USDA 8, with highlights of orange, copper, and gold, especially in drier soils. * It is marginal in zone 8, going dormant and deciduous in cold winters, but usually evergreen to semi-evergreen.

This is the most compact of all the Evercolor sedges and is perfect for edging a border, softening a hardscape, spilling out of a container or filling out a garden bed. Don't wait until we're sold out of Evercolor Everlite! They will go fast.

* Enormous Purple Plumes All Summer * Golden Foliage in Autumn * Deer Resistant * Great as foundation plantings 'Red Head' begins to show its enormous bottlebrush plumes in mid to late summer.

If you want easy to grow and low-maintenance, then you can't beat Everlime. It stands out from other carex with eye-catching spring-green blades with a lime-green edge. Evercolor Everlime keeps its shape and color all year, being cold hardy up to zone...

* It has green arching foliage to 3 feet in USDA 8, with highlights of orange, copper, and gold, especially in drier soils. * It is marginal in zone 8, going dormant and deciduous in cold winters, but usually evergreen to semi-evergreen.

The yellow seems to glow in partial shade. Single specimens are dramatic; masses may be overwhelming. Cultivars of this species are superior garden plants to the species. Genus name from Latin means cutter in reference to the sharp leaves and stem edges...

Cut foliage to the ground in late winter just before new shoots appear. Miscanthus Yaku Jima. It achieves a thick, full clump of billowing, arched foliage quickly, and silver flowers in August.

Typically forms an upright, rounded clump of foliage growing 4-6′ tall. Flower plumes persist well into winter providing good winter interest. Miscanthus Morning Light is a grass cultivar that is noted for its very narrow green leaves with white variegation...

Tiny pink-tinged flowers appear in tassel-like inflorescences above the foliage in late summer, gradually turning into creamy white plumes by fall as the seeds mature. Prefers moist soils.

Add texture to your landscape with this lovely mounding grass. It is not totally evergreen in the St. Louis area, although some foliage color will persist through mild winters. Plants are evergreen throughout most of their growing range.

It typically grows in a substantial clump to 4-6' tall, but sends up flower stalks to 2' above the foliage, thus bringing the total height of the grass to 6-8' tall when in flower.

Tolerant of summer heat and humidity. Substantial clumps tend to flop (or totally collapse when subjected to heavy winter snows), and will often benefit from some support. Tiny reddish-copper flowers appear in tassel-like inflorescences above the foliage...

* American Beautyberry ( Callicarpa americana ) is an open-habit, native shrub of the Southern United States which is often grown as an ornamental in gardens and yards . * Native to southeastern U.S.; lavender-pink or bluish flowers from mid- to late...

* American Beautyberry ( Callicarpa americana ) is an open-habit, native shrub of the Southern United States which is often grown as an ornamental in gardens and yards . * Native to southeastern U.S.; lavender-pink or bluish flowers from mid- to late...

Panicles turn beige as the seeds mature in fall with the seed plumes persisting well into winter. Foliage emerges bluish-green but rapidly turns burgundy-red (by late June) to form a compact, narrow, erect, 3′ tall clump of foliage which is topped in...

* It is native to New Zealand where it grows on sand dunes proving its drought and salt tolerance. Grown mostly for its warm orange color and dense clump forming habit. * Works well in a perennial border or container in either full sun or partial shade.

* It is native to New Zealand where it grows on sand dunes proving its drought and salt tolerance. Grown mostly for its warm orange color and dense clump forming habit. * Works well in a perennial border or container in either full sun or partial shade.

Panicles are composed of 60-480 pale yellow or silvery whiskered spikelets. Narrow upright 4-12” flower panicles appear in summer. Foliage is less than 1/8” wide and up to 12” long.

Panicles turn straw-yellow as the seeds mature fading to beige in winter. Switch grasses are an important wildlife cover in native, natural areas. Looks great combined with Black-eyed Susan.

For the ones that remain semi-evergreen, you should only cut off the brown or winter injured foliage in the spring. If you do choose to leave your ornamental grasses standing through winter, you will want to cut them back by early spring, before the new...

* A perennial grass with clustered erect green or purplish stems, branching at the top; turns an attractive pale browny-red in fall; needs full sun; produces silvery 2 1/2" seed heads in late summer; native from Quebec to Alberta, south to Florida and...