Gardening with Grasses

The best native grasses for your garden.

When we think about native grasses Lomandras or Matt Rush comes to mind. The common form, L. hystrix is a very large and not very graceful grass reaching 1.8m tall. I would definitely not class this as an ornamental grass. It is however great for stabilising steep slopes or at the back of borders to create a screen or backdrop to other plants. If you are looking for ornamental Lomandras for your garden there are several good reliable options available. L. Katie Belles is great alternative to the plain hystrix, equally tall but finer and producing masses of cream flower spikes. If you are looking for something smaller try L. Lucky Stripe growing to 90cm with a lovely, variegated leaf.

Lomandra longifolia grows to 1m and has a slender leaf and a more arching habit making it a more elegant choice for the garden. It is extremely hardy and resilient and ideal for native gardens. It has a good lush green colour that it keeps all year round with small yellow flower spikes produced form late Spring to early Summer. Lomandra Tropic Cascade is similar in habit but only reaches 80cm tall.

Lomandra fluviatilis Shara is a much smaller compact form only reaching 45cm with very thin arching leaves. Great at the front of a border.

Be careful, as not all Lomandras will cope with the humidity of our summers; L. Tanika, Wingarra, or Confertifolia are to be avoided.

Pennisetums or Foxtail Grass grow in range of conditions and like full sun or part shade. They are great mass planted or mixed with flowering perennials or shrubs. The tall feathery flowers sway in the breeze and add movement to the border. They are a great contrast to other plants. Pennisetum alopecuroides is not to be confused with the invasive P. setaceum from Africa. 

There are many varietals such as ‘Nafray’ at 60cm, or Purple Lea at 90cm which boasts feathery purple flowers, with the typical clumping growth habit and beautifully arching leaves. ‘Cream Lea’ is the tallest at 1m with feathery cream flower heads as much as 1.5m. ‘Pennstripe’ is a sterile variegated hybrid with a neat compact form only 45cm tall. Unlike the other Pennisetums it will not set seed. Purple Fountain Grass (Pennisetum advena Rubrum) originates from South Africa and is not native to Australia, although in the same family.

Next month I will continue the grass theme and talk a little about strappy leaved plants.

Visit Clark+Granger at www.cplusg.com.au or phone 0456111120 to find out more.