Planting DesignDiscover the right plants for your garden.

jimmy for providing class - round interest , grasses are full and lush during the warm month , put on great displays of declination color , and are unrivalled for wintertime grain . Once established , ornamental grass landscaping is low - alimony , drouth patient of , and resistant to disease . Plus , they can be used in garden stylus straddle from cottage to coeval . See the examples below to get ideas for incorporating grasses into your own garden .

Ornamental Grasses for the Garden

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18 Top Ornamental pot

While flower are the flamboyant stars of the garden , the hold up cast is sometimes leave out . Ornamental smoke offer subtle beauty and multi - seasonal interest , even when there ’s not much else run on in the garden . Get suggestions for your garden for tall or brusque ornamental sess , as well as intimate North American aboriginal grasses .

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grow Switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum )

This adaptable North American native sens has many possible uses in the landscape .

Growing Little Bluestem ( Schizachyrium scoparium )

Purple Fountain Grass, Pennisetum Setaceum ‘rubrum’, Ornamental Grass
Ornamental Grasses in Pots 
Proven Winners
Sycamore, IL

Get tip for planting and sustain this beautiful native prairie grass .

grow Japanese Forest Grass ( Hakonechloa )

This low - maintenance recurrent sens fanfare in shady garden .

Purple Fountain Grass, Pennisetum Setaceum ‘rubrum’, Ornamental Grass
Ornamental Grasses in Pots 
Proven Winners
Sycamore, IL

How to develop & Care for Fountain Grass ( Pennisetum )

Add contrasting shape and texture , as well as cause in your garden .

How to Grow & Care for Purple Fountain Grass

Purple Fountain Grass, Pennisetum Setaceum ‘rubrum’, Ornamental Grass
Ornamental Grasses in Pots 
Proven Winners
Sycamore, IL

Ornamental Grass Landscaping Ideas

Jon Whittle

Add them to Containers

While not the typical choice , sens are very well suited for container . They can be used as a tall centerpiece in an urn or planted solo in an outsize container . See10 style sess are used in containersat Cheekwood Botanical Garden in Nashville .

Purple Fountain Grass, Pennisetum Setaceum ‘rubrum’, Ornamental Grass
Ornamental Grasses in Pots 
Proven Winners
Sycamore, IL

Saxon Holt

contain them into a Meadow

Through his designs , John Greenlee has earned a report as the master of cosmetic green goddess . He skillfully combines billowing weed with terpsichore wild flower , bulbs and other plants to make meadows that harmonize with the surrounding landscape . See how he created aMediterranean meadowfor this property in Woodside , California .

Apache Rose Switchgrass, Panicum Virgatum
Ornamental Grasses in Pots 
Proven Winners
Sycamore, IL

See more : How to make a Meadow Garden

Chelsea Lobser

Go for a Mass Planting

Apache Rose Switchgrass, Panicum Virgatum
Ornamental Grasses in Pots 
Proven Winners
Sycamore, IL

If you have the blank space , decorative sess are perfect for gravid groupings . Outside this contemporary home plate , a belt of aboriginal prairie dreary grama grass was planted in lieu of a traditional mown lawn ( see more of thisPrairie Moderngarden in North Dakota ) . If you are n’t ready to substitute your lawn , initiate with grouping of odd numbers planted close together . You ’ll find that in multiple , grasses have much more impact .

Jason Dewey

set Around Your pond

Apache Rose Switchgrass, Panicum Virgatum
Ornamental Grasses in Pots 
Proven Winners
Sycamore, IL

plant around a syndicate can be a tricky task and it is often neglected or done poorly . Here , Washington , D.C.-based landscape painting - computer architecture house Oehme , van Sweden skillfully border the pool with graceful grasses and perennials that creep over the coping , make a pond - in - a - hayfield ambience ( see more of this garden : Hamptons Haven ) . Tip : attend for ornamental grass that do n’t drop much bedding material or else you ’ll be constantly cleaning your puddle .

Rob Cardillo

comprehend a Hillside

Blue Paradise Schizachyrium, Little Bluestem
Ornamental Grasses in Pots 
Proven Winners
Sycamore, IL

Hillsides are another rough-cut garden challenge that can be address with ornamental grasses . The gardeners at Chanticleer , one of the state ’s most beloved gardens , avoid the urge to clutter this hill and instead selected a grass , the bighearted native prairie dropseed genus Sporobolus heterolepis , to shape a meadow . Get moreideas from Chanticleer .

Embrace Their Seasonality

In this garden , designed by Lisa Roth , tawny grasses demonstrate fall ’s singular alteration in depth , grain and color . She purposely pick out varieties that would work phosphorescent atomic number 79 and mauve and plant them in generous drifts for the most seasonal impact . See more exposure of this Pennsylvania garden inThe Art of Autumn .

Blue Paradise Schizachyrium, Little Bluestem
Ornamental Grasses in Pots 
Proven Winners
Sycamore, IL

Use Them as a background

Grasses do n’t always have to be the star of the show , in fact they make corking patronize worker . In this front garden a simple planting of grasses and sedges forms a insidious , dark-green backcloth for the rough , orangish trunks of river birch tree tree . Get more brainchild from this sustainable garden : spring up Green in Pennsylvania .

GAP Photos / Jo Whitworth

Blue Paradise Schizachyrium, Little Bluestem
Ornamental Grasses in Pots 
Proven Winners
Sycamore, IL

Opt for a Hedge - similar Effect

Believe it or not , when found imaginatively sess can avail create a signified of privacy for your garden without being too imposing . Select grasses that grow to a considerable height ( see is Miscanthus sinensis ‘ Yakushima Dwarf ’ which can reach four - groundwork ) and plant them berm - to - shoulder like soldier in the USA . As the grasses mature , they will spring a hedge - like roadblock that can be used for a screen just about anywhere . See moreways to employ hedges in your garden .

Pam Penick .

All Gold Japanese Forest Grass, Hakonechloa Macra
Ornamental Grasses in Pots 
Proven Winners
Sycamore, IL

Use Them to Evoke weewee

Savvy , creative gardeners can practice grasses in their water - saving garden to produce an semblance of watery abundance . select dry - adapted plants to reach this sleight of hand realize the magic trick even more satisfying . Here are some tricks to keep up your sleeve .

Watch this inadequate video to see how to practice cosmetic locoweed in a small garden .

All Gold Japanese Forest Grass, Hakonechloa Macra
Ornamental Grasses in Pots 
Proven Winners
Sycamore, IL

Reader Questions

I sleep together the one-year royal spring smoke , but it ’s expensive to replace yearly . I tried depart my own from harvested seed , but no go . See answer

Two yr ago I planted a section of a perennial bed with half a dozen plants of a gorgeous sorry fescue grass , but they have n’t filled in as I had hop . Do they necessitate rich soil , less sun , or what?See answer

All Gold Japanese Forest Grass, Hakonechloa Macra
Ornamental Grasses in Pots 
Proven Winners
Sycamore, IL

Get moregardening advice .

have-to doe with : Did you know that bamboo is a eccentric of grass ? Here ’s aguide to selecting & growing bamboo in your garden .

Desert Plains Pennisetum, Fountain Grass
Ornamental Grasses in Pots 
Proven Winners
Sycamore, IL

Desert Plains Pennisetum, Fountain Grass
Ornamental Grasses in Pots 
Proven Winners
Sycamore, IL

Desert Plains Pennisetum, Fountain Grass
Ornamental Grasses in Pots 
Proven Winners
Sycamore, IL

Purple Fountain Grass, Pennisetum Setaceum ‘rubrum’, Ornamental Grass
Ornamental Grasses in Pots 
Proven Winners
Sycamore, IL

Purple Fountain Grass, Pennisetum Setaceum ‘rubrum’, Ornamental Grass
Ornamental Grasses in Pots 
Proven Winners
Sycamore, IL

Purple Fountain Grass, Pennisetum Setaceum ‘rubrum’, Ornamental Grass
Ornamental Grasses in Pots 
Proven Winners
Sycamore, IL

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