Ornamental Grasses ?

I really love the look of ornamental grass in the fall and winter. The other two seasons not so much but I think I want to try a few on the side slope garden after I clean it up next spring. What are you experiences? What are your favorites? Do they become invasive or are they controllable? Looking for a tall upright like 'Karl Foerster', a nice round blue like Blue Oat Grass and a shorter red type like Beni-Kazi. Any info on these or any other suggestions, pros and cons would be really appreciated. Pics are also definitely a good thing.

Karl is probably my fave. Not invasive at all and it stays up after rain. Also 'blooms' early. Stays nice and narrow.

i have karl based on victors praise and really like it - got it from HCG - it did not do much last year (first) this much bigger.

i like most of the hak grasses and have several kinds - beni kaze died for some reason and looking to replace it. did put in some blood grass that will spread - plan to keep it under tight control.

Thanks you guys. I really like KF since it is sterile and the deer are not supposed to be fond of it. I think I will get several and also use russian sage and agastaches. I love the hakonechloa grasses, they never look weedy like some grasses do, and want to get some of the gold one, I think it is, that takes a bit more sun for the north end under the choke cherry. Also thinking of some lavender and blue oat grass, anyone grow that?
Here is a pic of one of my hakonechloa, it's the variegated one.

wow that must be big now - i have that one as well from a coop not that big yet - maybe next year - lavender might look nice there - i have several i also got from HCG that have done well and after two years are getting large now.

It does take a few years for Karl to look her best.

I have four of them Bill. They are getting pretty fat around. They always look nice in a mostly shady spot. I figure lavender and agastache will do well with the good drainage a slope naturally provides. Beside I like them a lot.
That's okay Victor, I figure anything I plant gets three years to show its stuff. Besides the weeds and short grass that are there now are driving me nuts. Not to mention the weigela 'Wine and Roses' that is nice in the spring and early summer, but then makes me cringe every time I look in that direction. Nasty brown foliage that looks like something died. Can't stand it. Thing is I will not get up there to weed and remove without some new pretties to plant. Want things that can take some drought conditions too and not need a lot of watering.

My Carl did nothing for several years but to survive my stupidity.When I finally move it to full sun it thrived.Here in New Boston he wants the sun.

- My KF has done well in full sun. I bought 5 little guys from HCG and then a couple of years later bought 2 KF from Lowe's which were ½ gal size pots at ½ the price I paid for them at HCG! I added the two a couple of years ago and now I have a nice sized clump which is drought resistant and has ~3 foot stalks. Took total of 3 yrs to establish - this it's 4th year, it looks better than ever.

- I also have 3 clumps of porcupine grass this will be their 2nd winter now. The 2 clumps which are planted in mostly sun are a foot taller, (5-6 feet) than the one in mostly shade, so far they haven't become a problem and have not spread. They each have a drip line to them for extra water in the summer.

- Also; I have an expensive little clump of hakonechloa bene kazi from WFF, it's multi colored throughout the year. I had to move it from where it was originally planted because the rabbit here went nuts for it. I moved it to another spot where it receives a couple of hrs sun and the rabbit has left it alone and it has held up and beginning to fill out, I find it a slow grower, but tough in it's own right. Been with me for 3 yrs now.
* Fountain grass will likely be the next acquisition next spring as DW is particularly fond of it..

This message was edited Nov 11, 2010 5:53 PM

Karl is versatile - from full sun to fairly shady.

I dug up any of my grasses that "flowered" after my airedale got a seed in his paw & it abscessed, & I ended up with a huge vet bill! My golden hak grass died on me during the drought. I do have 3 festuca 'Elijah's Blue' that don't produce seeds for me...they are small, about 2' tall, I really like them.

have to look for that one marilyn - i planted some type of blue festuca that i finally pulled because it was popping up everywhere - think i still have the seeds will have to look.

I love the hakonechola grass. I bought the gold one for the edge of the new Giant Hosta garden.
Its planted with Plum Pudding heucheras and Gold Tiera hosta.
There is some struggling Ginger there also but its too sunny for the ginger so I will move it back into the shade in the spring.

For a medium-sized grass, I would recommend "Morning Light". Well behaved. My plant has lasted 8 years and is just beginning to show signs that it might need division.

For a tall impressive show, you can't do better than Zebra Grass. I have a clump 7 years old which grows to 8 ft tall in poor soil and is still going strong. I found one seedling in a nearby bed last year, but it was easy to pull up. Here is the blurb from Bluestone Gardens about it:
"The royalty of the grass kingdom, with billowy texture, silky tassels, many different heights and colorations, and great winter interest. Seeds are carried by a feathery plume above the plant. Pleasing sound when rustling in the wind. Deer resistant, good for hot dry spots, also dries easily. "

don will have to look into that one - i have a trouble dry area with terrible soil - i have ammended the soil removed all the roots 3' down and after 2 years back to the same situation - resorted to planting in buried containers - now i will begin moving out bushes and some trees and that needs plants that will survive in very dry conditions and gets a good deal of sun

Lots of good info from everyone. Nice to get first hand experience with specific varieties of grass. With the last few summers around here, a good drought tolerant, full sun plant that holds well in winter is welcome in tough areas of the garden. I think I will go with the blue oat grass rather than the blue festuca because of the larger size. HCG has a small festuca called sea urchin that looks nice too.

I love the zebra grass, but you need lots of room for it.

This is right up my alley. Ornamental grasses was what I first did when I started a nursery. But now it's too strenuous a product for me.

But one of my favorites for upright growth is Overdam. In this pic Overdam is on the right, in flower. The larger ones are Gracillimus, which I like better than Morning Light. Gracillimus is the finest textured of the miscanthus, that I know of.

A great place to buy grasses from is Santa Rosa Gardens. Most of mine are from Kurt Bluemel, but I don't know if they sell retail or not.

I wouldn't have a border without the grasses. To me they are important as a focal point, and as a filler.

Excuse the weeds in the front of the border. I did weed after taking the picture, but it was during my shipping season, and my own gardens suffer then.

Polly, the garden looks wonderful....the grass is surely the focal point!

Thank you Marilyn. I have well over a hundred ornamental grasses in my yard. I just love them, and years ago, what didn't sell got planted. I never divide them, it's just impossible. That's the one area we did have help with. I had a young man come and cut down the foliage in the spring. A lot of it you need a chain saw to do properly. Although for most a hedge trimmer works really well.

Here's my all time favorite grass. Molinia Skyracer. You get a clump of leaves about 3 foot tall, then in late summer the nflorescences shoot up to 7-8 foot tall. Talk about a focal point.

http://www.westonnurseries.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=plants.plantDetail&plant_id=421

WOW pOLLY

How does it hold up to rain?? The great thing about Kark is its slenderness. I gave up on miscanthus (other than giganteus) because of flopping. Once it happens, it looks horrible.

Which one, Victor?

The miscanthus holds up fine. The leaves are so slender it doesn't hurt it. Others with wider leaves do flop. The Skyracer has no problem with rain, it's always still standing after winter.



Thanks, Jo Ann, LOL.

This message was edited Nov 12, 2010 10:36 AM

polly thx for that link to weston gardens - i drive past it morning and night on the way to work - so far i have surpressed the urge to stop.

plan on getting some private mail from me on grasses when the snow fly's - would like to add some that do not get giant and flop, the miscanthus we had did flop and i pulled it out to much complaining from the better half.

I'd have to go back in my records. I've posted pics of how awful they looked. Also, they get so thick that they're a pain to cut back and almost impossible to remove once mature. I almost killed myself getting them out.

It's not only the slenderness of the blades that counts, but the inflorescences.

Forgot the 'only.'

This message was edited Nov 12, 2010 2:28 PM

Wow polly that is really impressive. I can see where a lumberjack might be more appropriate than a gardener to wack that big boy down. Any info on panicum Ruby Ribbons or miscanthus 'Gold Breeze'?

Lateness of bloom, too Victor. Some don't even have time to bloom here, so inflorescences are not an issue. Gracillimus only blooms for us some years. It would probably bloom earlier for you.

Really the only ones i have that flop badly are the wider leafed ones. Miscanthus Variegatus is a horrible flopper.

And yes, it does take a lumberjack to cut them down. I tie a bungee cord around the stalks, and cut them with a hedge trimmer. It takes me a few days to do all the grasses here in the spring. That's why I had a young man come in and do it this year.

That picture was taken in late summer, as you can see there was no flopping.

I don't know those two cultivars, Patti.

True. My memory tells me it may have been Gracillimus, but I'm not sure.