Architectural Grasses
How to use architectural grasses in your garden.
One of my absolute favourite architectural grasses is Stipa gigantea or Giant feather Grass. Stipa gigantea is a striking evergreen grass, with slender arching deep green foliage from which a 2.5m tall sheaf of oat-like flower-heads erupts in mid-summer. When mature, these splay apart to make a wide fountain shape that almost hides the plant. The seedheads dry out naturally on the plant and persist into early winter, where they make a good architectural feature. Stipa gigantea is an excellent as a lawn specimen in smaller gardens and is perfect for growing in a border or a gravel garden. I like to plant it as a specimen to be viewed though where the late sun will catch the flower heads. Grow in moist but well-drained soil in full sun to partial shade.
Feather reed grass, Calamagrostis x acutiflora, is an upright grass with good year-round interest, bearing feathery plumes in summer and bleached stems throughout the winter. Its architectural shape lends it to use as a striking focal point in gardens. The variety, ‘Karl Foerster’ is an ideal choice for planting en-masse to form a screen, or in small groups to add height and definition to a border. It is one of the earliest perennial grasses to emerge so cut it back to around 12cm in late winter to allow new growth Spring to emerge.
I am currently trialing Deschampsia cespitosa in my garden here at Chalk House. It is a perennial tufting ornamental grass that is native to many continents including Australia. It has a dense, erect, tufting habit with narrow tough green leaves. In Summer attractive feathery flowers of silvery purple appear on arching stems reaching 1.5m tall. Deschampsia Pixie Fountain is a smaller form, perfectly suited to part shade. The soft flower heads create a wonderful hazy cloud, perfect as a background to flowering perennials or at the front of the border. Plant them half their mature width apart for a dense, lush look or plant them their full mature width apart for a loose, airy look.
Next month I will talk about gardening on a sloping site.
Visit Clark+Granger at www.cplusg.com.au or phone 0456111120 to find out more
By Jez Clark
