Versatile grass
Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Stories by Debra Smith
Herald Writer
For years most folks clumped grass into one of two categories.
There was the kind of grass cows could eat and there was lawn turf fit to whack a ball on.
That’s not the case anymore.
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Hakonechloa macra “Aureola” is a slow spreading grass perfect for grou… [ Ornamental grasses have grown in popularity during the past decade and for good reason.
Grasses bring texture, color, movement, a rustling sound and the clattering of leaves to the garden.
Grasses are versatile, fitting into any style or size garden. Few pests bother grasses. They are low maintenance and many are hardy, handling conditions that other plants can’t.
Once established, most grasses need little in the way of water or fertilizer, making them an environmentally friendly alternative and drought tolerant.
And the choices: Grasses and grasslike plants like reeds and sedges form one of the largest plant families in the world.
The variation in size, color and shape is nearly endless. Hundreds of ornamental grasses are available commercially in a variety of shapes, sizes and hues.
Some of the most popular grasses popping up in nurseries now are the native grasses that lined the natural landscape a century ago.
Despite all the stellar qualities of grasses, it can be intimidating to choose the right plant and incorporate it into the landscape.
Doug Kirk, owner of Kirk’s Nursery and Garden in Langley, has a few ideas.
His nursery specializes in ornamental grasses, and he designs landscapes for south Whidbey homes.
Here’s what gardeners ought to know about grasses before rushing to the nursery.
Grasses are either warm or cool season.
Warm-season grasses grow vigorously from spring to summer and flower in the fall. They flourish when temperatures hover between 80 and 95 degrees.
As winter approaches, warm-season grasses become dormant and turn tan, wheat or white. In the fall, warm-season grasses put on a brilliant show, complementing the warm autumn colors, Kirk said. They prefer well-drained soil and lots of sun.
Cool-season grasses are some of the first perennials to bloom. These grasses thrive in spring when temperatures reach 60 to 75 degrees and prefer moisture. Some prefer shade.
Cool-season grasses are mainly evergreen, meaning these grasses don’t lose their leaves. Many are low growers. In the winter these grasses sport shades of brown, yellow, red, purple or plum.
Some are marginal – they can grow in water or on land. Marginal grasses are perfect for use around and in ponds.
Grasses are either running grasses or clumping grasses. And it’s a good idea to know the difference.
Running grasses, also called creeping or spreading grasses, are called that for a reason. Running grasses send out stems above ground (called stolons) and below ground (called rhizomes).
Running grasses can be invasive and downright thuglike in perennial borders. But they are a great choice when a large area needs to be covered or as a ground cover. Kirk suggested varieties that spread slowly.
If grasses need to stay put, choose a clumping variety.
Clumping grasses are sometimes called bunch grasses. They can grow in tiny tufts or into mammoth monsters such as pampas grass.
Kirk removes 25 to 50 pampas grass plants a year because homeowners don’t realize they can grow to 14 feet high and just as wide in a dozen years in the Northwest’s moist, cool climate.
Grasses can be annuals, biennials or perennials. Kirk suggested choosing mainly perennial varieties, since it can be time consuming and expensive to replant every year. Some plants that are perennials in warmer climates function as annuals in this area such as Pennisetum Burgundy.
Kirk doesn’t approach garden design like a recipe. But he does have a few principles he keeps in mind when putting together a landscape.
Grasses grow well in containers, massed into groupings or standing alone as an architectural feature in the garden, he said.
Form follows function. If privacy were needed during the summer months when the family is romping in the back yard, a row of tall, fast-growing warm season grasses might fit the bill. He suggested Stipa Gigantea or a Miscanthus variety.
Cool season grasses play a major role in Kirk’s own south Whidbey garden, nearly three acres of “collector’s items” like big-leafed rhododendrons, dwarf Japanese white pines, dozens of Japanese maples and grasses, and grasslike plants. Sedum, succulents and colorful perennials are incorporated too.
Kirk has found the key to success is moving grasses to different parts of the garden to see where they thrive. He’ll buy two of the same plant and put them into two different spots.
He places plants with the same growth habits and features in the same area of the garden. For instance, he paired Japanese maples with the grass molina, its purplish hues in the fall blend perfectly with the fall color change of the trees.
Color, texture and even fragrance are also important considerations for Kirk, who planted blue fescue under the spreading branches of a cherry blossom tree. In the spring, the tree’s pink petal drop peppers the fescue, catching in the hairlike stems of the grass.
There should be something of interest every season and part of the way he achieves that effect is by choosing trees and shrubs that will provide interest even in the barren winter months.
He favors evergreens, which act almost like part of the hardscape, the nonplant “bones” of the garden such as paths and fences.
He strives to maintain balance by repeating certain colors and textures throughout the garden so the eye will move about. There ought to be “a thread of something” that holds the entire garden together, he said.
How to plant plugs
Planting grasses is easy. Ornamental grass enthusiast Doug Kirk grows dozens of varieties at his south Whidbey home. He prefers to plant grasses in early spring, but they’ll do fine anytime except the harshest part of winter, he said.
Dig a hole about twice the size of the plant. Mix some organic material such as compost into the hole. Plop in the grass plug. Cover the root ball with soil.
Add a small application of slow release fertilizer in a drip line on the ground around the base of the plant. Applying fertilizer directly to the crown of the plant will burn it. Grasses planted in well-drained soil need to be fertilized every spring.
Grasses are largely drought tolerant, but they need to be nurtured along the first few seasons. That means plenty of water, he said.
Some tall-growing warm season grasses such as Miscanthus and Molina varieties need to be cut down around Thanksgiving in this area. The taller forms will break apart in high winds.
Often overlooked, grasses bring color, texture and sound to gardens of any size
Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com.
