Ornamental grasses offer four seasons of appeal

What if there was a garden plant that could survive in almost any condition, provide four seasons of interest, and be practically maintenance-, pest- and disease-free and deer-resistant to top it off? Ornamental grasses are just the ticket.

“I truly believe there is an ornamental grass for every condition in the garden,” says Jan Shaw, a Master Gardener and landscape designer. Shaw uses grasses extensively in her own garden and those of her clients for a number of reasons.

As design elements, Shaw likes grasses because they offer a year-round presence, structure and scale in the garden. “They are transition plants in the garden when every thing else is so seasonal,” she says.

Ornamental grasses are characterized by strap-like leaves with a flower tassel that stands above the plant. The seed tassel is the major difference between ornamental grasses and other garden plants. Grasses are wind-pollinated rather than being pollinated by insects. Instead of having bright flowers that are appealing to insects, the grasses have flowers that take advantage of the wind. They don’t have to be colorful or smell sweet; they just have to have the flowers up where the wind can catch them.

This ability to wave in the wind is one of the main characteristics that make ornamental grasses so appealing in the garden. As the grasses wave, light is reflected off the smooth leaf blades and the flower tassels creating wonderful effects of dancing light and movement not found with other garden plants.

Shaw likes to use grasses in her landscape designs not only because they play with light but they add structure and scale to the garden. Ornamental grasses come in almost every size imaginable from a foot tall to 10, 12 even 15 feet tall. The smaller grasses are wonderful covers for the dying foliage of bulbs and early blooming plants or to cover the bare stems, or knees, of other plants. The mid-sized grasses are a foil to similarly sized plants. The soft texture of grasses can tone down brightly contrasting flowers in the garden.

The taller grasses can serve as hedges or barriers in their own right instead of a fence. Shaw loves feather reed grass (Calamagrostis “Karl Forester”), which grows to 6 feet, as an alternative to a fence. “It makes a great screen because it’s so erect. Instead of putting in any kind of a fence, you can put in a row of Karl Forester.” Some grasses reach heights of 10 even 15 feet and can almost be small trees.

Grasses are also useful in the landscape because they can grow in a wide variety of soil and moisture condition. Some grasses like blue fescue, feather reed grass and blue oat grass can grow in very dry conditions once they are established. At the other end of the spectrum, there are a number of grasses that can grow in standing water at the edge of ponds and in bog gardens. Grasses can grow in a wide range of lighting conditions from shade to blazing open sun.

Grasses can add a full four seasons of interest in the garden. After their green blades and seed tassels put on a show all spring and summer, they turn shades of tan, bronze, gold or rust with the coming of frost in the fall. They keep this color through the winter creating color in the garden through what is normally a pretty bleak season here. They can be spectacular when covered with frost or a light dusting of snow.

Top off the list with the fact that they are disease, pest and deer resistant and you have almost a perfect garden plant. They are great wildlife cover for small animals and birds throughout the year.

Maintenance of grasses is about as simple as it can get. “Most grasses (with exceptions) take about an inch of water a week, just like your lawn, to do their best,” says Brian Harshman of Harshman’s Wholesale Nursery north of Coeur d’Alene. He specializes in growing hardy grasses. “Most grasses need regular fertilization to do their best. The taller and larger the grass, the more fertilizer it will need,” adds Harshman.

At the end of the growing season, or in the spring if you like to leave the grasses in the winter garden, merely rake out the dead grass and trim back any straggly leaves and seed heads.

Ornamental grasses are appearing in more and more nurseries around the area. Shaw says the biggest thing to be aware of is that there are a lot of grasses on the local market that are not truly hardy here and must be treated as annuals unless you have a bright place indoors to over-winter them. Most plants should have the zone listed on their tag so look for USDA Zone 5.