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Grasses, sedges and rushes and a number of bulbs, are great additions to the landscape for the soft flowing
texture and their foliage colors. I have lumped a wide range of plants with grass-like foliage as I often
use them for much the same purposes. The versatile ornamental grasses can be very short, from just a few
inches tall to 10 feet or more. There are grasses with red foliage, silver foliage, striped foliage, rootbeer
colored foliage, not to mention some few with just plain but strikingly verdant green foliage. I use the ornamental
grasses and similar plants often to soften a border or to provide some movement in the landscape. In some cases
to make a very lush environment such as with Setaria palmifolia.
The ornamental grasses will rustle in the wind. Many of these plants, such as Scirpus, Carex, Juncus, and are
great in or near water. Lomandra longifolia is even
fragrant. I can smell ours as I walk down the garden path
long before I get there.
The ornamental grasses are often very low maintenance, requiring an annual trimming down to a few inches tall.
It is important when positioning ornamental grasses that enough space is allowed for the foliage to flop and trail.
Strict control on the alignment when planting the ornamental grasses often makes for strong patterns when the
plants are dormant.
Some of the ornamental grasses are very fertile and can cause problems in the landscape and in the wild if
they escape. Other ornamental grasses seem quite tame. If gardening near wildlands you should have extra caution when
introducing plants that might do just a little too well if they escape.
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