Show your ornamental grass gardens!

Greetings, this is my first time here in this forum! I am starting a new garden (just moved in new home) and I would love to use some ornamental grasses... I just have never used grasses in my garden before and I don't know how to make them fit in with my other plants!
Please share your garden pics showing your ornamental grasses in relation to other plants! I would love to get some inspiration from you folks!
Roberta

Roberta, I am planning on planting orn. grasses in my beds this year for the first time. Over the winter I researched a lot and realized the beauty of grasses mixed in with other plants. I am super excited to see the texture they add to my garden. I will definitely share my photos as soon as things start filling in.
I have some Blue Fescue, Golden Var. Sweet Flag, Juncus, Pampass grass from seed, and Red Star Spikes (not really a grass) ready to go in...can't wait!
Hope someone else can post some pics also. Susanne

Thanks Susanne! You are still in the planning stages like me and were the one kind enough to respond! Yes, please show me your progress as you go!

hi have some grasses to share that are in my yard....
1st is small blue fescue in back blue oat grass

2nd left blue fescue, in back young blue oat grass, little tiny yellow one is dwarf sweet flag

3rd
l>r
mexican feather grass, bronzy looking one is carex cappacino peeking from the back is blue fescue and a big new zealand flax on the right

This message was edited Apr 30, 2008 1:40 PM

This message was edited Apr 30, 2008 1:43 PM

4th
blue oat grass and the small is blue fescue

last one l>r
yellow dwarf sweet flag, mexican feather grass (i hack it down every year) and carex cappacino

might have helped if i put the photo in! lol

shokami, Those are great pics. Pretty grasses. Thanks for sharing.
I, too really like the look of grasses and am thinking about adding more, so it would be great to see what everyone is doing.
My house is only four years old and as everyone knows, a garden is a work in progress. It is amazing how long it takes to make decisions about what to do. LOL
I only have 1 grass so far, that I started from seed. Blue Fescue.
Excuse the mess, but the grass is cutback for the winter and we just had the last of our snow melt, so I have not done a lot of cleanup yet. But I wanted to let you know that even on a small budget you can get started. This particular location is very sunny and very dry in a rocky setting.
I have sedum and lamb's ear mixed with hen and chicks and Blue Fescue from seed. The Blue Fescue also readily reseeds, which you can use by filling out your bed or discard.

I guess I should add that this area looks great when the grass has grown and everything is green again.
I realize some people do not have the huge season swings and that is shen zone envy sets in. Great thread.

Wow! Beautiful gardens there! Thanks for sharing...I was always a little "grass challenged" but you guys gave me great ideas!
Question: how do you make sure they stay in these nice clumps instead of just spreading all over the place?

Here are some of my ornamental grasses around my garden. Various species of miscanthus, Karl Foerster grass, zebra grass, etc. I will post 4 pics. These are along side a dry stream bed we built. We just moved, so I still need to transport or divide some of these grasses to get them going at my new location.
Claire

Here's pic 2. One of my favorite grasses with its seedheads. I love the way it mounds.

Here's pic 3. We went to a class on learning how to make willow structures for the garden. We made this fence piece and thought it set off the grasses nicely.

Here's my last pic - it's a "mound" we made beside the water feature. I love the hakonechloa grass for the way it looks like a fountain. I think they call it Japanese forest grass. I like the way that the nasturtiums made continuous color all summer and the grasses grow up through them.
Claire

Claire, your garden is stunning! Wow! I loooove your grasses! What are their water needs?

Thank you! It is nice to hear that you like it. It took some hard work but is very rewarding to me, when I can sit on the patio and look out and feel like it was all worth it!

Well, I think they probably are on the low maintenance side in terms of water needs. I don't do any supplemental watering of my grasses - I only do that for my vegetable gardens. If it needs a lot of water, it probably won't make it because I don't have a lot of time to be watering things! Here in Iowa, last summer, we had a pretty dry summer. I know we sometimes went 2 or 3 weeks without any rain. The grasses did not get watered in that time. These pics are from late summer because of the seedheads on the grasses, by which time we'd had some rain. Still, I would say that overall, they did not have very significant water needs. The spring rains help them get going. I would say that when I first planted them they were a lot smaller, and I did do watering to help them get going in that first year. The pictures show either 2 or 3 year old clumps. The ones on the "mound" by the water feature did get supplemental watering because that area was only planted last year and I have an arbor (not in photo) with new clematis on it, so I watered that area with a sprinkler.

Your zone and area are complete unknowns to me, and zone 10 sounds like it gets really hot, so I don't know what grasses do best there, but I think you are still sort of near the coast, so maybe you get a decent amount of rain? Sorry to be not very knowledgeable about your climate - it's so different from mine!

I think High Country Gardens offers a good selection of ornamental grasses that work well in dry areas. Even if you didn't want to buy from them, you could maybe figure out some of the species to look for.

Claire

Beautiful grasses. Claire
Zone 5, no less! So, where are you moving to?
I would like to get some other varieties going so this is great information.
Do the plants set fertile seeds?
You know what I am thinking.... a seed swap this year or next...;)

Hi Cyndie,
Well I moved just within Iowa, about 15 miles from where I was. I was in a regular "neighborhood" setting and since I don't have kids and have a fairly quiet existence, I wanted to get more rural and have more space and less neighbors! I moved to 5.5 acres just outside of town and I love it. But, I have to start all over with a new garden. Step 1: Put in a fence! Lots of deer out here. The other house is on the market, but with today's market, it will be months before it sells. I will probably divide the grasses soon though.

Interesting question about the seeds - I would have to say that I am not sure. I have not tried collecting seeds. I have never noticed any new grasses coming up though, so my hunch is that they are not fertile. I have other plants that self-seed like crazy, but even my Elijah Blue fescue hasn't made seeds like yours. I grew mine from seed though, which I bought in a packet at Lowe's as I recall. Maybe I should try collecting seed from the others! I have divided the clumps before and they take easily that way. It is a good idea to do a grass seed swap if they would germinate because they make a ton of seeds. I love the way the grass seedheads collect snow in the winter - they really add to winter interest in my garden when everything else is covered in snow - the grasses still wave around and make crackling noises. I think the birds eat the seeds too.

Claire

Hi Claire, I grew up in southern Iowa and my uncle lived in Norwalk, so I am familiar with your area.
I have no children anymore (all grown-no grandkids)and can appreciate the quiet. ;)
If you would like some seeds for starting a new garden, let me know. I can save perennials for you.
The fescue I have self-seeds, but I know some of the new varieties won't.
I, too, like the winter look of things and grasses certainly provide pretty views.
Five acres is NICE.
If there is enough interest we should research what grasses we have and which ones are fertile and do a great swap next year. In the mean time, just map progress in our gardens and gain ideas from each other.
Enjoy your new place!!

How funny - I grew up in Nova Scotia - just northeast of Maine in Canada. It's like we swapped places! LOL!

Once I get the fence put in, I will transfer some of those grasses and see if I can do some more research on the precise varieties. I know I have tags for some of them. I think that my fescue didn't make seedheads, now that I think about it. Most of my others do. I love my hardy pampas grass - I might still have a seedhead of that floating around in the yard. I will take a look.

I am experimenting with deer-resistant perennials right now. I have numerous lavender species, rudbeckia and salvia, and others that are supposedly less deer attractive. I feel a little overwhelmed by the amount of space sometimes, but it's exciting. Part is timber, then there is a pond, and then prairie-grassland, and some "manicured" lawn (but not too manicured) so I have different areas to play with. I want to get some prairie grasses going - bluestem and such.

Claire

I would be interested in a grass seed swap. I am on the look out for big blue stem and quite a few others too.

I love everyone's pictures! Shokami, what is that gorgeous yellow flower in your last picture? I love all your grasses, especially that Carex cappucino.
Cyndie and Claire, just beautiful! Boy, my Nasturtiums never look that great.
It is making me so excited to see more of my garden break dormancy. I realized I also have some Sea Oat Grass in the front yard (noticed it poking up today!) and bunches of liriope.

Here are a couple variegated Sweet flags that I just put into my newly remodeled pond taken a couple days ago. I can't wait for them to fill in. I also just bought a Zebra Rush and some more Corkscrew Rush. Come on May 15th! :)
I would also love to do a seed swap, though I don't know that I have anything interesting just yet.

hi all.........
great garden pics everyone! CM is that fountain grass or bunny tail grass in that photo of yours? looks so fun! the yellow flower is a wallflower. i have it in purple, varigated, orange, and mauve. really tough little plants and very fragrant. (check out my blog) i dont have grass seed to swap but i do have a few baby mex. feather grass, carex plants that i could trade off if anyone is interested. i will have more ready in about a month and another batch a month after that. all i do is let mother nature take its course and start the plants for me in the garden and i pluck them out and stick them in a pot to root out and then find homes for them. if i didnt my yard would be covered with feather grass and carex! lol i havent had the fescue make plants yet. i should think about dividing a few of them though. i have been int his house almost 3 years now. things grow pretty well here, its very temperate. my perennials are just starting to fill in and not look so void. love to watch things spread and grow!

Art n G - I love your pond! I think my nasturtiums did well because that "mound" was actually my former compost pile. It was sitting there looking terrible for a couple of years - mostly composed of a lot of sod that I had lifted in order to make beds, and other plant materials, and so I didn't know what to do with it. I wasn't very good at turning it, etc, so it just sat there. I decided to turn it into a sort of a berm beside the water feature, and it worked out pretty well I think, but the nasturtiums took off like wildfire, and I attribute that to the soil they are on!

I really like liriope but I thought it would spread and it never has for me, so I just have one little clump.

Shokami - I love the wallflower too - very pretty! I think my grass is the fountain grass. I got some of my grasses as divisions from someone who was moving, and he didn't know what they were. So I'm in the dark about some of them and haven't taken the time to research them. I had bunny tail grass before though, and it was smaller. I can't remember where I got that one, but I know I did buy fountain grass at one point, so I bet that's it.

Claire

Claire, my zone is hot hot hot! So from what you say, I think the grasses would need more watering over here...
Great pics everyone! I love the wallflowers too! You guys are giving me some great ideas! i can already picture a few of those grasses among my cannas....

High Country Gardens shows the Karl Foerster grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora) to be xeric, which should be good for you then, I think. Same with Muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) which I can't grow because it won't overwinter for me. It's a really nice, full grass. Zone 7 to 10 only - not so good for Iowa!

Here's my Miscanthus Goldbar...my favorite Miscanthus ( a bit slow, but compact and incredible variegation).

Here's an Eragrostis (purchased from Lowes without label) alongside some Encore azaleas. I think it is elliottii, but I'm not positive.

Another Miscanthus Goldbar with Indian Hawthornes ( a NW Florida garden staple).

Cortaderia Gold Band. Hard to see the variegation in the photo, but it's really great coloring and so much smaller than regular pampas grass. The fence is 6' tall. Perfect height pampas grass!

Great grasses! I love the Eragrostis - it has a beautiful airiness to it.

I agree. Some of my favorites for movement are Eragrostis, Muhlenbergia, and Nassella. I love grasses that blow in the breeze and the seedheads seem to float.

I know muhlenbergia isn't hardy to my zone....I have to look into the other 2.

So pretty all...I wish I had space for the pampas grass too!

oooh...that was pretty cruel of me, and completely unintentional. None of those 3 grasses are hardy in zone 5a. I often forget what climate I live in. :)

Roberta--out here we need to be really careful with the Pampas grass, most of them are pretty invasive here. So it's probably a good thing you don't have the space! I have 'Pumila' which is reputedly sterile and also stays a bit smaller than the others so if you want to try one that's probably your best bet. Although if I ever find out it's not really sterile, out it comes!

Yes, I have heard pampas is considered invasive over here ecrane! And yes, that was another reason I didn't get one although I think it looks stunning on those massive clumps!

Ah well, there's my little advantage in zone 5a, I can grow hardy pampas grass as a perennial, but there's no way it's invasive in this climate. Whew! Makes up for those pretty ones I can't grow!