When walking in the country or by the sea in autumn and winter, you cannot fail to notice and be inspired by how beautiful our
wild grasses are in the natural landscape, swaying and shimmering in great drifts and borders along the roads and streams.
After years in the wilderness, more and more gardeners are recognising their exceptional qualities, so that grasses are now at the very forefront of modern design. They are reliable and many kinds furnish the garden for most of the year, being at their best in autumn and early winter.
Breathtaking when lit sideways by the sun, their elegance and lightness of touch sits uneasily with stiff hybrid roses or dwarf bedding dahlias, but they form a perfect partnership with a large range of sturdy hardy perennials, many of which like the same growing conditions.
Grasses are now more widely available, with specialist Irish nurseries growing them “on-site”, so that you know when buying that they’ll survive and prosper in our climate. They are amazingly tolerant of a wide range of soil conditions, but most need sunlight to survive, which is why ordinary lawn grass dies out under the shade of big trees. Just a few true grasses will tolerate partial shade, among them Millium effusum, delicate melica (useful for groundcover) and the lovely Stipa arundinacea, which likes moist, porous clay, ideally on the acid side of neutral. A great plant this, it seeds itself about profusely when happy, often in the most picturesque places. Only a few species can survive regular waterlogging, while in areas prone to regular drought, most will survive but only those originally from dry places will thrive.
Grasses and their natural planting partners, the hardy perennials, need only sun light and a fertile soil to grow. Modern thinking on grasses and bamboos is against adding fertilisers or compost to the soil, arguing that ornamental grasses need to toughen up by finding their own nutrients. If the ground is very heavy though, it might need opening up by adding generous amounts of horticultural grit.
Preparation
When planting, dig a hole twice the width of the plant in its pot, break up the soil at the bottom of the hole with a fork to loosen it, remove any large or medium stones, and break up any big lumps of clay. Put the plant in the hole and back-fi ll with the soil you’ve just taken out, mixing with some added grit if it feels too sticky. It’s important to ensure the plant sits at the same level in the ground as it did in its pot. When planted, firm the ground around it with your feet, to ensure the roots make contact with the earth and to stop it rocking in the wind and coming loose. Most grasses have a long and narrow leaf, so if different kinds are all
massed together, they can cancel each other out. Use them either as specimens standing apart, or inlittle groups of one kind. Best of all, mix them with strong, self-sufficient perennials for company.
Good partners include kniphofi a or pokers, spurges (try Euphorbia sikkimensis or E. griffi thii), globeheaded purple alliums (ornamental onions), peonies, bellflowers (Campanula lactifl ora), achillea, Phlomis russelliana, late-flowering Echinacea purpurpea, Michaelmas daisies (Asters) and late bulbs, such as pink nerine lilies and pineapple lilies, (Eucomis bicolor).
Some of the earliest grasses into flower have the longest season. One is the beautifully silky giant oat grass, Stipagigantea, which looks best when planted where you can admire it on all sides, such as on a mound or in a big clay pot. The smaller, more delicate-looking Stipatenuissima moves softly in the slightest breeze and is very pretty. Molinia caerulea ‘Transparent’, (2m), allows you see through it, as its name suggests, so it can be planted near the front of a border, despite its height. Of the miscanthus or maiden-hair tribe, M. sinensis ‘Zebrinus’ (1.6m), with horizontal stripes and autumn flowers, is hard to beat and stands well all winter. For smaller or tidier gardens, there’s a tighter version, M. sinensis ‘Strictus’ (1.5m). Or try M. nepalensis at only 1m high.
The feather reed grass, Calamagrostis, is fairly new on the scene here and amazingly versatile. One of the best available, with fabulous purple plumes in summer, is the very erect C. x acutifl ora ‘Karl Foerster’ (1.8m). The sun-loving Stipa calamagrostis ‘Lemperg’ (90cms) has the most beautiful silver inflorescences from August- December and the pheasant tail grass, Stipa arundinacea (60cms) mentioned above, has fountains of arching stems that start out green and change to golden-bronze in autumn and winter.
Bord Bia It’s Garden Time
With thanks to Bord Bia for this article. For more information on Bord Bia and for further gardening tips and advice, visit http://www.bordbia.ie/consumer/gardening/itsgardentime/pages/gardentips.aspx
Breathtaking when lit sideways by the sun, their elegance and lightness of touch sits uneasily with stiff hybrid roses or dwarf bedding dahlias, but they form a perfect partnership with a large range of sturdy hardy perennials, many of which like the same growing conditions.
Grasses are now more widely available, with specialist Irish nurseries growing them “on-site”, so that you know when buying that they’ll survive and prosper in our climate. They are amazingly tolerant of a wide range of soil conditions, but most need sunlight to survive, which is why ordinary lawn grass dies out under the shade of big trees. Just a few true grasses will tolerate partial shade, among them Millium effusum, delicate melica (useful for groundcover) and the lovely Stipa arundinacea, which likes moist, porous clay, ideally on the acid side of neutral. A great plant this, it seeds itself about profusely when happy, often in the most picturesque places. Only a few species can survive regular waterlogging, while in areas prone to regular drought, most will survive but only those originally from dry places will thrive.
Grasses and their natural planting partners, the hardy perennials, need only sun light and a fertile soil to grow. Modern thinking on grasses and bamboos is against adding fertilisers or compost to the soil, arguing that ornamental grasses need to toughen up by finding their own nutrients. If the ground is very heavy though, it might need opening up by adding generous amounts of horticultural grit.
Preparation
When planting, dig a hole twice the width of the plant in its pot, break up the soil at the bottom of the hole with a fork to loosen it, remove any large or medium stones, and break up any big lumps of clay. Put the plant in the hole and back-fi ll with the soil you’ve just taken out, mixing with some added grit if it feels too sticky. It’s important to ensure the plant sits at the same level in the ground as it did in its pot. When planted, firm the ground around it with your feet, to ensure the roots make contact with the earth and to stop it rocking in the wind and coming loose. Most grasses have a long and narrow leaf, so if different kinds are all
massed together, they can cancel each other out. Use them either as specimens standing apart, or inlittle groups of one kind. Best of all, mix them with strong, self-sufficient perennials for company.
Good partners include kniphofi a or pokers, spurges (try Euphorbia sikkimensis or E. griffi thii), globeheaded purple alliums (ornamental onions), peonies, bellflowers (Campanula lactifl ora), achillea, Phlomis russelliana, late-flowering Echinacea purpurpea, Michaelmas daisies (Asters) and late bulbs, such as pink nerine lilies and pineapple lilies, (Eucomis bicolor).
Some of the earliest grasses into flower have the longest season. One is the beautifully silky giant oat grass, Stipagigantea, which looks best when planted where you can admire it on all sides, such as on a mound or in a big clay pot. The smaller, more delicate-looking Stipatenuissima moves softly in the slightest breeze and is very pretty. Molinia caerulea ‘Transparent’, (2m), allows you see through it, as its name suggests, so it can be planted near the front of a border, despite its height. Of the miscanthus or maiden-hair tribe, M. sinensis ‘Zebrinus’ (1.6m), with horizontal stripes and autumn flowers, is hard to beat and stands well all winter. For smaller or tidier gardens, there’s a tighter version, M. sinensis ‘Strictus’ (1.5m). Or try M. nepalensis at only 1m high.
The feather reed grass, Calamagrostis, is fairly new on the scene here and amazingly versatile. One of the best available, with fabulous purple plumes in summer, is the very erect C. x acutifl ora ‘Karl Foerster’ (1.8m). The sun-loving Stipa calamagrostis ‘Lemperg’ (90cms) has the most beautiful silver inflorescences from August- December and the pheasant tail grass, Stipa arundinacea (60cms) mentioned above, has fountains of arching stems that start out green and change to golden-bronze in autumn and winter.
Bord Bia It’s Garden Time
With thanks to Bord Bia for this article. For more information on Bord Bia and for further gardening tips and advice, visit http://www.bordbia.ie/consumer/gardening/itsgardentime/pages/gardentips.aspx 
