This season, daring to be different with ornamental grass varieties has never been easier. Among the most versatile of plants, grasses are perfect partners for perennials and annuals in both beds and containers.
The human eye can see more shades of green than any other colour. The palette of colour for ornamental grasses, however, counts green as only one of the many colours to choose from.
From perennial options in ethereal blues to silver-grey, chartreuse or variegated green to annual varieties with even more colour options including toffee, hot pink, and the deepest of purple, there is every reason to indulge this season in the sheer diversity of both annual and perennial grasses.
Already growing Karl Foerster Feather Reed grass (Calamogrostis acutiflora) in your flower bed and planning to buy Purple Fountain grass for a container or two? While neither of these two popular choices suggests a cookie-cutter approach to designing with plants, the landscape becomes a little boring, de rigeur if you will, when every gardener plants the same thing.
What is it about grasses that make them an optimum choice for our personal space?
"They're tough," says Susan Jensen Stubbe, co-owner of Jensen's Nursery, adding, "Deer won't eat them, rabbits hop on by, and bugs don't bug them. They're drought-tolerant, too."
From an aesthetic point of view, Jensen Stubbe points to the structural and textural value of grasses throughout late summer, fall, winter, and even early spring until dormant grasses are cut down to rejuvenate new growth.
Jensen's is carrying several new grass varieties, including Beyond Blue fescue, said to be the bluest fescue available. While Beyond Blue and the more familiar Elijah Blue are rated as hardy to our zone, many gardeners are not sure what to do with fescue grasses once winter has ended. Too often the tight centres brown and die back.
Beyond Blue fescue, however, is being heralded as the solution to this dilemma with stunning blue colour throughout. Brian Heembrock, sales manager at Aubin Nurseries, recommends growing fescue varieties on a south-facing slope where they are likely to have better drainage.
Heembrock says fescues like it hot and dry and will do better in drier, low-humidity situations. He suggests, too, that they be given plenty of room. Don't crowd them with other plants.
Cheju Do Feather Reed grass is a dwarf form of Karl Foerster. Jensen Stubbe says it will grow to 60 centimetres and produces brown gold plumes in late summer through early fall. It is slow to start and not as fast-growing as Karl Foerster but should make a good companion. Jensen Stubbe is trialing both of these new grasses in beds at home and at the nursery.
From an economical point of view, should we gardeners be hesitant to become too adventurous with our perennial choices?
Heembrock says that while many of the grasses available to local gardeners are classified as zone 4, most are adaptable to our climate. The bloom time of grasses is often a good indication as to whether a grass is a cool-season or warm-season variety.
Panicum cultivars such as Northwind, Heavy Metal and Prairie Sky bloom later in the season than early-blooming calamagrostis varieties such as Karl Foerster, Eldorado and Overdam. The early start of these latter varieties can translate to as much as an extra six weeks of growth, says Heembrock, who suggests planting panicum varieties with calamagrostis.
He says their sturdiness, wider blade and bluish tinge can make for a more attractive display than a single or mass planting of Karl Foerster. Grasses are all about movement in the landscape. The long seedheads of Northwind and Heavy Metal provide even more movement. Karl Foerster, though, continues to reign supreme because of its statuesque height.
Both Heembrock and Jensen Stubbe are experimenting with dwarf varieties of pampas grass. Heembrock planted some in containers last year, which he said finished off very nicely in the fall. He put the containers in cold storage for the winter and expects the grass to start up by the end of this month.
Jensen Stubbe is selling a pink pampas variety that will grow to more than 150 cm and have long pink plumes. She recommends growing it as an annual.
Some perennial varieties look outstanding in containers, such as variegated Overdam feather reed grass or bronze tufted hair grass with its heavy blooms and widely arching foliage.
Annual grasses can be showcased in numerous ways. Green walls, one of the most exciting and innovative new ways to garden, look fabulous planted with low-growing or cascading grasses in their space-saving vertical tiers.
Recently, I had the opportunity to talk with Albert Mondor, a Montreal-based horticulturist and author who writes a weekly column in the Journal de Montreal and gives courses and conferences across the country. Mondor adheres to extreme horticulture, a philosophy that recognizes people worldwide are gardening in smaller spaces.
In Canada, for example, 85 per cent of the population live in urban areas. With less space in which to grow ornamentals and edibles, says Mondor, extreme horticulture is about more creative ways to use our space.
Mondor creates green walls either as free-standing structures or mounted on outside walls or fences. Recently, he installed a galvanized-steel green wall on the outside of his house and filled the three tiers with a mix of plants, including chartreuse Japanese Forest grass (Hakonechloa macra).
Toffee or coppery coloured sedge grasses are his favourite and these he has used to great effect in a free-standing wall made of rusty crates and rows of glass bottles.
Mondor sources salvaged materials from scrap yards and metal shops. "There is an environmental, ecological aspect to this," says Mondor, "when you give new life to old pieces that no one wants."
Mondor says that rusty material, in particular, works well because the beautiful orange colour mixes beautifully with plants, especially green foliage.
Green walls not only use vertical space, they also serve as creative solutions to dressing up an outside wall or fence in a really original, distinctive way, Mondor says.
"You can express yourself with a green wall and have pleasure in talking about your creation with your neighbours and friends."
Mondor plans a workshop in Montreal during Garden Days, June 19 to 21.
Closer to home, Chris Godfrey, territory manager of Equinox Environmental Products, recently installed one of Equinox's green walls against an outside wall at his Fort Garry residence.
Ready-made units are 61 cm by 66 cm and hold 12 pots that can be inserted directly into 12 cm openings. What could be easier? Godfrey says the units are durable and can remain outdoors year-round.
For a dramatic display, Godfrey stacked multiple units which Jensen Stubbe then filled with a combination of annuals and grasses. Bulbous oat grass has been paired with purple potato vine. Baby Tut grass has been paired with Purple Fountain grass. Royal Lady grass, part of the new Royal Collection of dark purple grasses, has been paired with Beyond Blue fescue. Golden creeping Jenny and red dragon wing begonias add additional contrast and trailing form.
How will Godfrey water this creation? Just with a garden hose.
Fireworks fountain grass is another low-growing variety that would be suitable for green walls or small spaces. I came across it late last summer on a walk through the English Garden and was astounded at its brilliant hot pink foliage with midveins of burgundy.
The Royal Collection has some of the deepest burgundy grasses on the market. Prince Fountain grass grows to 150 cm with wide, dark purple foliage. First Knight looks almost black. Gary Wilmott, owner of Plants Plus in Petersfield, supplied First Knight to the City of Winnipeg last year and will do so again this year.
No more needs to be said about this sturdy grass and its ability to stand up to everything that nature (and traffic) can throw at it.
Other Royal members include Princess Molly and Princess Caroline. If we are talking about royalty, though, King Tut (Cyperus papyrus) knows few equals with its tall hollow stems and huge spiky umbels.
Vertigo is another beauty, says Wilmott, who likes to pair its deep burgundy colour with chartreuse-coloured plants such as lysimachia or red-toned sun-loving coleus varieties such as Henna.
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PLANT SALES
Today from 9 am to 2 pm the St. James Horticultural Society hosts its gigantic plant and bake sale at the Deer Lodge Community Club, 323 Bruce Ave.
On Wednesday, the East Kildonan Garden Club will host its annual spring plant sale and plant auction. 7 p.m. at Valley Gardens Community Club, 218 Antrim Road.
The Selkirk & District Horticultural Society hosts its annual plant sale on May 29, 6 pm to 8 pm at the Selkirk Memorial Hall, 376 Jemima Street.
