As your summer blooms fade and your garden is well past its prime, you may be wondering how to keep your space interesting and fresh through the fall season. Enter, ornamental grasses! With their soft texture and select colorful plumes, grasses are the perfect addition to your garden.
Grasses are low maintenance, often drought tolerant once established, rarely suffer from disease, and provide food and shelter for birds through the winter. These perennial grasses are in their prime throughout the fall and provide golden, textured dimension as they dry during the winter. Not to mention, pruning primarily consists of trimming back the previous year's growth! Whether you need a thriller for your container or an interesting option for planting, consider utilizing one of these grasses!
Some of our favorite ornamental grasses include:
Muhlenbergia capillaris or Muhly grass
Flower: Showy pink or white soft plumes through November
Soil: Prefers well draining soil and is drought tolerant once established
Size: Height and width 3’x3’
Sun: Sun to part shade
Pennisetum or Fountain grass - there are many different Pennisetum grass varieties!
Flower: Bottlebrush shaped flower late summer through fall
Soil: Can handle most soil conditions
Size: Height and width 3’x6+’
Sun: Prefers full sun, flowers less in part sun
Miscanthus sinensis or Maiden hair grass - again, many different varieties and great variation in color or pattern (Ex. Zebra grass has stripped leaves)!
Flower: Upright tassel plume in many different colors
Soil: Drought tolerant and prefers well draining soil
Size: Height and width 3’x6’
Sun: Full sun but some varieties want shade relief in the afternoons
Panicum or Switch grass - we often carry Shenandoah!
Flower: Leaves turns deep burgundy in the fall
Soil: Can handle most soil conditions but prefers to be more moist
Size: Height and width 3’x6’
Sun: Full sun
Let's #getplanting and create fall interest in your garden with grasses this year!
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