Landscape design would not be complete without the use of ornamental grasses. These grasses and grass-like plants are a valued member of any landscape plan due to their hardiness, low maintenance, and dramatic appearance. Ornamental grasses come in a huge variety of textures, colors, and sizes, making them highly versatile choices for any style of landscaping.
What Are Ornamental Grasses?
The term “ornamental grasses” encompasses both actual blades of grass as well as plants that have grass-like features that are used for similar purposes in landscaping. The majority of these grasses are perennials, making them great substitutions for shrubs and bushes used as anchors in landscaping designs.
As a general rule, grasses have growth habits that cause them to either spread or clump. The grasses that spread expand rapidly over the ground creating a carpet like effect. These grasses are the ones that are used in lawns as ground covering.
Large Clumping Grasses
Clumping grasses tend to bunch up as they grow, forming clumps that gradually increase in diameter and height. Heights vary depending on the variety of grass, with some reaching up to fifteen feet tall. These tall grasses are perfect for lining fencing or for providing focal points in beddings. Due to their size, tall clumping ornamental grasses also can work to increase privacy in areas of your property, such as around pool decking and property lines.
Smaller Clumping Grasses
Smaller clumping grasses can be found lining landscape bedding, along sidewalks and pathways, and in forming boundaries between flowers in beds. Their foliage provides additional interest with various ranges in leaf blades, forms, and colors. Surprisingly, the array of deep green, red and purple, blues, yellow, and variegated leaf colors provide a wide range of texture to landscaping and flower beds.
Adding Interest To Landscape
Ornamental grasses also provide visual interest in ways that shrubbery and flowers often can not. They sway easily in the breeze, adding soft rustling sounds and movement to the landscape. Their rapid growth can also be an asset to new beds that need to look established, or as replacements in established bedding that fits in with the scale of existing foliage.
Due to the varied styles and types of grasses, they can easily be incorporated into many different landscape designs and used for many different purposes. Smaller clumping grasses with flowers and striking foliage color are perfect for borders and pathways, where larger varieties add privacy and drama when placed on the property.
Ornamental Grasses May Be What You Are Missing
Ornamental grasses are a valued member of any landscape design team. Blue Morning Landscapes can assist you in picking out the right grasses for your property and in your landscaping design needs.