'Willpower & sheer idiocy combine in harmony'
Providing colour, structure and movement
I'VE grown to love grasses. Like many children of the 70s, I hate pampas grass stuck in the middle of a lawn.
With the influence of designer Piet Oudolf's prairie planting, grasses once again became THE plants to have during the last decade. Trouble was, you needed a prairie-sized garden to get the full impact!
Like all good things, there's a middle way. You can easily introduce the odd tall grass, like Stipa gigantea for vertical interest and movement.
I find the small evergreen grasses (40-60cm) most useful in winter. They give shape, structure and colour on the grimmest of days.
My two favourites are blue fescue grass (Festuca glauca) and a variegated sedge (Carex oshimensis Evergold).
There's a group of Carex Frosted Curls, which are silvery green and really catch the breeze.
An oddity is the corkscrew rush (Juncus effusus Spiralis), which produces medium green stems that curl in a spiral pattern. It grows best in full to partial sunlight and moist, nutrient-rich soils.
Another useful variety, taller at about 1m, is variegated ribbon grass (Phalaris arundinacea Picta) - however it spreads quickly and can be invasive. It will thrive in just about every garden situation.
Miscanthus sinensis Zebrinus, or the zebra grass, takes its name from the horizontal cream bands on the leaves. Striking, silky, finger-like flowers bloom in late summer, and stay on during winter. It grows to about 1.25m.
Tall at 2m, Miscanthus sinensis Kleine Fontäne has narrow, silvery leaves with a white stripe down the centre. It flowers right into autumn, when its new, reddish-brown, tassel-like flowers are a foil for the faded, silvery older ones. Excellent for winter presence.
Above, variegated ribbon grass; right, zebra grass.
Handy Phormium
I'LL never complain about New Zealand flax (Phormium) again.
It did upset me because it's crowding out a weeping cherry tree, but its flower spikes are superb - 8ft or so high, lots of them, with exotic, dark-red blooms which look a bit like small bunches of pink bananas.
Bees and other pollinators love it - it's always covered in them. The best thing about these flower spikes is that they're on tough, woody stems, which I leave on all winter for a bit of structure.
Unlike the fibrous leaves which are a nightmare to cut (resort to a pruning saw), the flower stems will snap off at the base in spring, leaving you with strong structure which is great for making bean poles, or growing climbers up.
Golden age of grass
STIPA gigantea, or giant golden oats, is one of the largest feather grasses.
Mine is planted in the border, with a bit of added grit for drainage, while a small division is establishing itself in a planting pocket at the side of the gravel drive.
They flower from June to August and the panicles hang on well into winter.
They are hardy to at least -15°C. Once growing well, you just need to cut back the foliage during the winter to tidy it up before the new flush of growth appears.
Well, that's the theory - although I haven't read anywhere that the leaves are addictive to cats. They are to George anyway.
When the big one was young, as fast as it grew, he nibbled them off.
Kniphofia and Stipa gigantea in autumnal light.
