Gardening with Grasses - Nigel Gibson :: Buy Garden Plants online from our online garden Centre at best4plants

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Grasses can provide a multitude of colour, texture, movement and structure to any garden. Our very own Nigel Gibson advises on the choice, application and planting styles of these ornamental plants.

The number of grasses being produced has increased considerably in the last ten years - a trend that seems to be in tandem with the rise in profile of the garden designer. The range of coloured foliage available (blue, green, brown, yellow and variegated) means that there is a grass that will fit into any planting scheme.

The foliage colour and form can be used as a contrast to other plants - for example Festuca glauca 'Blaufuchs' ('Blue fox') with Rosa 'Heritage' and Potentilla 'Monach's velvet' - or to tone down other colours - Miscanthus sinensis 'Variegatus' with Dahlia 'Bishop of Llandaff' and Cotinus 'Grace'.

The most gentle wind is the added ingredient to the use of grasses in planting schemes. The slightest breeze will add movement to borders that otherwise tend to be rigid.

Many grasses will retain their form through the winter, which looks wonderful when covered in frost. They also add to the wildlife element of gardens with their seeds and foliage cover.

Planting Styles

Grasses are versatile and good foil to all garden plants, which means they are a valuable addition to any plant palette. There are a number of different border situations where grasses can be used:

Herbaceous Border: Add a Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light' for a dash of silvery foliage, or Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea 'Karl Foerster' to make a vertical element and prolong the life of the display.

Pure swathes: Grasses never look better than when planted en masse. This is shown beautifully by looking at grasses in their natural setting - Phragmites australis on marshland, or Miscanthus sinensis var. condensatus in the coastal areas of Japan:

Matrix Planting: An adaptation of some natural areas where grasses and perennials live and prosper together. This works best on larger areas, but could be used on a garden scale. A good example of this can be seen in recently restored areas of Crystal Palace Park, London. Gastafson Porter, who designed the scheme, has used grasses mixed with three or four varieties of perennials.

Bedding schemes: Variegated maize is still used as a accent plant in carpet bedding schemes, as well as spider plants (Chorophytum comosum 'Variegatum') which can be used as an edging. Possibly an innovative council parks department could use grasses to make the whole carpet using Uncinia rubra with an edge of Festuca 'Golden toupee', and Miscanthus, 'Cosmopolitan' as the accent plants.

Mixed borders: Grasses will blend with shrubs and perennials in a mixed border - for example Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Overdam' next to Cotinus 'Grace' and Helenium 'Moerheim beauty' with Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Goblin' in front. Another example is Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light' with Aster x frikartii 'Monch, Monarda 'Scorpion', Penstemon 'Raven' and Sedum 'Ruby glow' as an edging.

Pots: Grasses are wonderful in pots of contrasting colour. Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' with its yellow variegated leaves in a blue gazed pot, or Carex buchananii with upright brown leaves in a stainless stell container. Most grasses do not mind pot culture, provided they are not allowed to dry out.

Stress Free Plants

Within the grass family there are perennials and annuals. Most of the ornamental grasses used in gardens are perennials and have a fairly long lifespan. The majority of grasses are herbaceous perennials, but there are quite a few that are evergreen - for example Luzula sylvatica 'Marginata' or Carex flagellifera.

Grasses are generally pest and disease free. There are a few that suffer from rust diseases on their foliage, but this tends to happen in humid, warm, growing seasons, mainly on plants that are stressed or have insufficient air movement around them. If all else fails there are fungicides available which will control disease.

Grasses are also fairly drought tolerant; once established, most do not need extra irrigation. There are of course exceptions - many of the sedges (carex) and rushes (juncus) thrive with extra moisture.

Grasses are also very useful because they do not require soils with high fertility - they are quite able to cope with poor soils. Many are at home in well drained loam, but grow in much worse. Fertiliser is not required for grasses as they are adapted to soils which have low nutrient levels.

For the best positioning of grasses a designer must relate them to the places they grow in the wild. For example, many taller perennial grasses need full sun to grow upright and to their ultimate height; in shade they tend to flop and become weaker. In woodland shade, most of the grasses tend to be small, evergreen and early flowering.

Grasses grow almost everywhere in the wild, but there seems to be a reluctance by some people to use them in gardens. Grasses are meant to be grown in among other plants, so do not restrict them. Another nurseryman said to me recently; "The fashion for grasses is over", but I would disagree - we are only just seeing the tip of the iceberg. We live in times where more and more pressure is being put on diminishing resources; using grasses in gardens means less watering and, if they are replacing traditional lawns, it means less pollution from mowers. Most of all it means softer, natural, less stressful gardens.

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