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Selecting Ornamental Grasses

 

Ornamental Grasses add movement, line, form, texture, scale, and even sound to an otherwise static landscape. Their colors are subtle, yet softly appealing.

Selecting ornamental grasses for your landscape is in part a personal decision, linked to your own tastes and garden flair. There are a few tips for everyone, however, that can help narrow down your selections.

Climate
Before selecting and ordering any ornamental grasses, one should be aware of the zone or climate in which the grasses will be planted. To be successful, selections should be limited to those that will survive in the local climate.

Size
One of the common mistakes we often see is ignoring the mature size of an ornamental grass. Smaller starter plants are often placed too close to sidewalks, driveways or are put into a garden position that causes them to overwhelm their neighboring plants. Choose according to mature size. Ornamental grasses grow rather quickly and even a small plug will mature into a full sized plant within a few years or less.

Growth Habit
Consider whether the ornamental grass is a running ornamental grass or a clumping ornamental grass. If it is a running ornamental grass, does it spread quickly and aggressively? If so, do you have adequate edging to contain the ornamental grass from other areas of the garden? Certain growth habits can be emphasized very successfully. For example, an ornamental grass that tends to flop or weep can look attractive cascading over a raised edging. Tall vertical ornamental grasses with attractive blooms can make great backdrops to a perennial garden.

Landscape Design
Consider your overall landscape style and choose those grasses that complement rather then overpower. Color and shape all come into play when making selections. Too much variegation can sometimes seem busy. Larger ornamental grasses in a small garden are reserved as specimens, while in a vast landscape can be planted in massed sweeps. Dwarf ornamental grass varieties may seem lost in such a large landscape.