GORGEOUS GRASSES
& SEDGES for 2008

Few plants can rival the ornamental grasses for the beauty they bestow throughout the seasons.  Their graceful architecture, showy plumes, and easy culture make them ideal garden plants, tender or hardy, perfect for groundcover use, as specimens, for naturalizing and container art.  I use them freely in our display beds, a favorite vignette including the dramatic variegated Miscanthus 'Cosmopolitan' an eye- popping centerpiece to beds of colorful annuals and tropicals.

In a shaded area of the nursery the lush green blades of Calamagrostis brachytricha, Hydrangea 'Annabelle' and Lady ferns are a picture of quiet beauty, plucked from an English garden.  This versatile reed grass will grow in sun or shade, sailing through hot, steamy summers, while providing much needed architecture to garden beds.  The graceful 3 foot, dreamy pink plumes appear, bronzing as they age, and make lovely, unique, cut flower material.

Savvy container gardeners use grasses for starring roles, or as support players in combination plantings, creating exquisite 'living bouquets'.  Newcomer Carex 'Toffee Twist' is the ultimate in textural contrast, a dream plant for container art with shimmering fountains of fine-textured gingery leaves, quite exotic.  I pot it with Angel Vine (Muhlenbeckia), Xanthosoma 'Lime Zinger', and throw in a trailing Potato Vine (Solanum jasminoides) as a color echo, and it becomes a tantalizing study of foliage as art.

Another stunning tropical grass, Setaria, or Palm grass, makes a perfect accent in containers of mixed tropicals, donning upright green blades pleated like crepe paper, margined in creamy white, and held aloft on bronzy-red stems.  If you're looking for a dramatic and more contemporary container specimen, Miscanthus, or Maiden Grass, plopped in your favorite large container, will provide the ultimate in sophistication.

For a dazzling mini aquatic garden, plant a bird bath with the grass-like golden blades of Acorus 'Ogon' or the munchkin clumps of Isolepsis (Fiber Optic Grass)…..just add water and ouila! An object d `art!

A stylish new perennial grass, Calamagrostis 'Avalanche' has created a ruckus among the grass geeks…. this extraordinary feather reed grass is similar to 'Karl Foerster', but with a twist….the lush 4 foot clumps offer up a knock out contrast of creamy white leaves, boldly edged in green.  Superb!  Need I say more?  If you've been reluctant to jump into the ornamental grass craze, I suggest you do it now---with both feet!

P.S. Treat yourself to an inspirational and beautiful book, The Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses by Rick Darke (Timber Press ).  It also makes a great gift for gardening friends and should be available at better book stores.