Ornamental Grasses

Ornamental Grass such as miscanthus have been used by the landscaping industry for many years. With more grasses now becoming available for use in the home garden the choice of height, color and texture can satisfy almost any garden designer.

Some very popular grasses include the highly ornamental Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' or Japanese Temple Grass, a lovely clump forming species with soft foliage that looks great in a woodland setting or in a pot or container.

Many ornamental grasses are actually strap leafed plants. Mondo Grass in its many forms is very useful for border planting, for growing between pavers, or mass planting in a semi shaded area

Propagation is from seed or by division, watch out for grasses that seed seed easily, and also grasses that send out aggressive runners, these can quickly become an invasive weed, or at best a nuisance.

Ornamental grasses are used in the garden and landscaping for a variety of purposes.

To act as borders
To provide texture
To add color to the border
As 'fillers' in difficult positions
To act as broad ground covers

Ornamental grasses can also be planted on wider a scale in large landscaping projects as well as being a useful plant for erosion control.

Grasses used widely as ornamental grasses include:

Acorus
Arundo
Briza
Calamagrostis
Carex
Cyperus
Deschampsia
Eragrostis
Festuca
Hakonechloa
Imperta
Juncus
Liriope
Lomandra
Miscanthus
Nassella
Ophiopogon
Panicum
Paspalum
Pennisetum
Schizachyrium
Stipa
Themeda
Typha