Identifying Ornamental Grasses

Something these small gardens often lack is the motion and grandeur of grass, since so many of the American prairie grasses are big and bold. With so many people moving from the suburbs back into urban spaces, there is a trend of finding beautiful small...

The effect is shockingly bright color in your garden from a typically simple grass. In late summer it will shoot up soft, fluffy ‘foxtails' blooms that will add even greater interest.

By the time autumn arrives, your picturesque grass adopts shades of deep purple, topped with decorative seeds of red/purple intensity. It's drought tolerant and generally carefree.

With a max height of 10 to 15 inches and a max width of 8 to 10 inches this little guy fits anywhere, sun or shade. Enjoy Big Excitement From a Little Plant! It's time to add some energy and excitement to your tired garden and we have just the thing for...

Smoky Rose Color Plumes That Last Months! The Ornamental Fountain Grass 'Redhead Fountain Grass', 'Pennisetum 'Redhead', produces very soft plumes that are smoky rose in color, all season long.

Order yours today! * Cold-hardy to zone 5 * Distinctive lime-striped foliage * Super-easy care * Deer resistant One of the very best is Evercolor Everlime Carex (Carex oshimensis ‘Everlime').

The golden color of this cultivar casts a reflection on ponds and streams and will reflect light. Single specimens are dramatic; masses may be overwhelming. Commonly called tufted sedge.

Leaf blades (to 3/8” wide) are green and arch gracefully downward. Tiny buffy colored flowers with red tinges emerge in fluffy panicles above the foliage in August-September. It achieves a thick, full clump of billowing, arched foliage quickly, and...

Typically forms an upright, rounded clump of foliage growing 4-6′ tall. Clumps slowly expand in circumference by short rhizomes, but usually retain tight clump shape. Miscanthus Morning Light is a somewhat smaller, more fine-textured version of the...

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. Versatile ornamental grass for smaller areas.

This sedge is evergreen in the deep South, maintaining good foliage in both summer and winter. It is not totally evergreen in the St. Louis area, although some foliage color will persist through mild winters.

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. This is by far the most popular of all Miscanthus varieties. They are a mounding grass with gracefully flowing narrow green foliage. Foliage turns yellowish after frost, but quickly fades to straw-beige by winter.

In winter, the leaf color fades to beige; the blades persist and offer cover to birds. Prefers Full sun to bring out the best red color. This ornamental switch grass cultivar features some of the best burgundy-red foliage of the many panicum cultivars...

Foliage can be semi-evergreen or deciduous depending on the climate. This species performs as a perennial through zone 7 but is usually a reseeding annual in areas with colder winters.

Panicum Heavy Metal tolerates wide range of soils, including dry ones, but prefers moist, sandy or clay soils. Tends to flop in rich soils. Looks great combined with Black-eyed Susan.

Organic additions to the soil can also be combined with a shot of chemical fertilizer for maximum effect. A less expensive fast release fertilizer such as a 10-10-10 will work just as well if applied twice during the early spring and again in the late...

Growing to be about 6 feet, this variety makes a striking statement planted in the back of a perennial garden. (Andropogon gerardii) 'Red October' has attractive foliage that changes color seasonally.

Best in full sun. Plants typically grow to 3' tall x 3' wide when in flower. It is native to prairies, pine barrens, and open woodlands from Massachusetts to Kansas south to Florida and Texas.

Other common names include forest grass and Japanese forest grass. Best growth occurs in climates with cool summer temperatures. Golden Japanese Forest Grass is Best grown in humusy, consistently moist, well-drained soils in part shade.

In 1848, and for many years now has been grown as an ornamental plant in certain southern and western parts of the U.S. It has also been grown commercially for harvest of its large flower plumes for use in dried arrangements.

Although the stems appear from a distance as coarse and stiff, they are soft to the touch. Easily grown at the edge of a pond or water garden, in boggy areas, among wet pebbles or rocks or in several inches of standing water.

We love this product and use it on all plants we install in our own gardens. Apply an early spring fertilizer with a product such as at the recommended rate this will give the plant a boost of nitrogen potash that will be needed for healthy foliage and...

Some are evergreen; some are variegated with gold or white. These plants also make good accent plants among other border plants.When choosing ornamental grasses for borders, you should become familiar with their growing requirements as well as their characteristics.

Most of the problems associated with flopping ornamental grass is because of gardeners taking too much care of the plants, not too little.The most common cause of ornamental grasses falling over isin the soil.

It is often obvious when this needs to be done, as the grass may have a dead patch in the center or simply fail to produce a thick crown of leaves.Propagation of ornamental grasses is through this division or from volunteer plants that have come from...

Deer resistant. Mounds of narrow, elegantly arching leaves grow to 2' tall. It is an excellent cutting plant for flower arrangements. Beautiful rose-copper flower plumes begin their entrance in July with new seed heads appearing all the way into September!...