Growing Ornamental Grasses

Ornamental grasses can be a good addition to a garden. They provide both visual and audio stimulation – consider the sound of the wind rustling through plus most are hardy and once established require less maintenance than other plants.

Pennisetum Karley Rose from Nature Hills Nursery

Where to plant ornamental grasses:

• Along borders.
• As a wall, or screen around other plant and flower beds.
• In containers for a cool rustic on the porch look.
• Around trees.

How to establish ornamental grasses:

• You need to make sure you fortify the soil with organic matter that’s well draining. Grasses (according to most books I’ve read) fare better in sandy loan than clay.
• Plan for more space than you think. Grasses expand a lot. They need plenty of room to grow. The best gauge is to pretend that you’re planting fully grown grasses. Space plants or seeds apart with as much room as they’d need at full size.
• Until established water weekly (or more depending on your area and the grass) but after becoming established you can slack a little. Many grasses can deal with a little drought.

Keeping your grasses maintained:

• If grasses start looking droopy and sad they may need the occasional fertilizer.
• In winter you may need to cut them back to under half a foot so they can grow up fresh by summer again.
• Annual trimming is recommended for better growth but experts note that if you cut too much you’ll just be trimming new growth so know your plant’s size before attacking with trimmers.

Cool ornamental grasses:

• Hakonechloa All Gold – brilliant gold coloring.
• Pennisetum Karley Rose – a pretty feathery (but not too feathery) dusty pink.
• Calamagrostis acutiflora ‘Overdam’ – lovely floaty looking grass. Pretty with roses.

See more grasses here and here.

See a full on how-to guide for ornamental grasses at the University of Illinois Extension or check with your local extension for grass tips for your own area.