Ornamental Grasses Provide Autumn Ambiance

Grasses have always been a part of our lawns, but today artistic gardeners are using them to paint the fall garden.

Burly ornamental grasses are the latest trend in garden design because they are easy to grow and intensely beautiful. The color and texture of the blades are a wonderful contrast against broadleaf plants in the early fall season.

The fountain grass clan is the best known of the ornamental grasses and they are stellar performers of the autumn scene. The genus, Pennisetum, includes species with varying cold hardiness, essential to selecting the right one for your garden and climate zone.

In the warm south and the west you can grow Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum', the vivid purple fountain grass, hardy to Zone 8. This plant bears striking dark burgundy-red leaves that are powerful tools for high contrast effects. Grow them against a light colored wall or bright green background shrub. They flower in soft fluffy pink spikes that rise up and then gracefully bend outward, giving the whole plant a fountain-like shape. This grass grows so quickly that many people in colder climates grow them as annuals replanted each year.

Fountain grass is a perennial, and each one will grow larger and produce more blossom spikes with each new year. Like all grasses they prefer full sun to look their best. Ornamental grasses like the same diet as turf grass, so save some of your lawn fertilizer for them. Be sure to leave the dead foliage on plants through winter so that it protects the root crown from damage by spring freeze-thaw. Wait until after the last frost before you cut them back.

Grasses flower in tall spikes that rise above the foliage and are topped with rows of flowers pollinated by the wind. As they blossom and set seed, the spikes nod and bow in the fall winds, making them a uniquely animated part of your garden. This movement lends to grasses a special character lacking in more stationary plants.

This grass is an excellent candidate for growing in pots and containers. A single mature fountain grass in a in a rusted pedestal urn or an upright Italian terra cotta pot lends a distinctive elegance, particularly where a pair flanks a path or step. With such a limited root zone, be sure to water often provided there is good drainage, and feed on a regular basis for big, bushy plants.

These grasses are also the consummate accents for Mediterranean or Southwestern inspired landscapes. They are most attractive when placed against rocks and boulders in the wild garden. They do well inserted into foundation plantings around the house to create late season interest through color and texture.

Even if you have no garden you can enjoy the beauty and animation of the prairie on your porch or balcony with potted grasses. Buy and plant this fall when blooming in the nursery so you know what you'll get next year. Chances are you'll be so enchanted with the grasses in a flowerless late garden that you'll come back for more.