Planting a flower garden and adding flowerpots around the property are both unique ways to enhance the look and atmosphere of your humble abode. Even though their vibrant petals look spectacular, sometimes just having flowers isn’t enough to get that desired look or effect you were hoping for.
That’s where foliage like ornamental grasses come into play. When you first think of planting a garden, grass is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. Our list below will show you some of the most creative ways to use ornamental grasses in your garden. After reading through these uses, you should have a better understanding of why these long, thin bunches of grass are so beneficial to your home garden.
CREATE A NATURAL FENCE
Instead of investing in a wooden fence, you can create a natural fence with the help of tall ornamental grasses. Not only does having a wall of large perennial grasses look beautiful, but it will also help enhance privacy in your yard. On the other hand, maybe you have a mundane view of something from your yard, like an empty lot or a busy street, that you’d like to patch up with something prettier.
PROVIDE EYE-CATCHING GROUND COVER
While some ornamental grasses can grow tall enough to provide suitable privacy, others are small and dense enough to create the perfect ground cover. The two best types of ornamental grasses to use for this are dense low-growing grasses and mid-size grasses. If you’re using large ornamental grasses for ground cover, you might be overthinking it just a bit. Using these grasses for ground cover will help suppress weeds in the garden while also providing it with a unique appearance that will wow neighbors and house guests alike.
ADD A UNIQUE TEXTURE TO YOUR GARDEN
As delightful as those bright flowers you might already have in your garden are, sometimes your garden can still lack that special something that makes it yours. With the help of large or mid-size ornamental grasses, you can add a bit more variety in the way of height and texture. These grasses can come in various colors, which provides you with the opportunity to really get creative and mix-and-match different grasses to make your garden stand out as the focal point of your yard.
UPGRADE YOUR WATER GARDEN
Speaking of unique, the word certainly applies to water gardens. One of the best ways to make your water garden stand out even more is with the help of ornamental grasses. That being said, this doesn’t go for all ornamental grasses, so be sure the one you buy can properly thrive in aquatic environments. For suitable grasses, place them in a pot before putting them in the water. Submerge a majority of the ornamental grass except for the crown. With the proper handling and care, ornamental grasses pair delightfully with colorful flowers in a water garden.
COMPLIMENT YOUR GARDEN ART
Ornamental grass is also an incredible way to enhance any garden art you have. The light, wavy blades will provide a unique texture to the area’s surrounding sculptures, spinners, pottery, fountains, and any other installments you might have on the property. If you want that garden art to be the focal point of your yard, ornamental grasses will help you achieve just that.
ATTRACT NEARBY WILDLIFE
If you love hearing birds chirp in the morning and seeing them flying around in your yard, ornamental grasses are for you. Ornamental grasses are an attraction for birds due to the seeds which birds use for food. Additionally, the long blades of ornamental grass make a great tool for creating bird nests, so you’ll certainly see them taking advantage of that. However, birds are not the only wildlife ornamental grasses will attract. Butterflies will also fly through your garden because these grasses make great host plants which butterflies rely on to plant their eggs.
RECOMMENDED ORNAMENTAL GRASSES
As you can see, there is a wide range of ways to use ornamental grasses in your garden. If you’re in need of a garden store in Canada to find the perfect ornamental grasses for your yard, we’re here to help. At The Gentlemen’s Backyard, we have an eclectic variety of ornamental grasses that include three types of Miscanthus Sinensis, two types of Hakonechloa, two types of Panicum virgatum, and unique Schizachyrium s. ‘Blue Paradise’.
If you want to enhance the texture of your yard with an ornamental grass that can withstand hot, dry conditions— ‘Blue Paradise’ will pull it off in spades. This is thanks to the variety’s silver/blue stems that develop in the summer and develop even more unique colors in the fall thanks to their wine-purple leaves and tan seed heads. ‘Blue Paradise’ is a single plant that can provide your garden with a wide range of diverse colors.
The Hakonechloa Grass ‘Aureola’, with its yellow blades that sport green stripes streaming down their center, is the perfect plant for draping over garden art. The reason for this is because of the unique ways its blades flow. Instead of the blades sticking out in all different directions like a foliage explosion (like our ‘All Gold’ Hokenchloa Grass), they all flow in the same direction, more akin to a waterfall or a babbling brook.
If you’re looking to create a natural fence or garden focal point, that’s where Miscanthus Sinensis comes in handy. These tall perennials showcase thin stems and large, bountiful plumes on the end. Miscanthus Sinensis typically features creamy tan flowers on bold, green grass. However, each type of Miscanthus Sinensis has its own unique color changes depending on the season.
For instance, the grass Miscanthus Sinensis ‘Huron Sunrise’ showcases burgundy flowers in the summertime, whereas the grass Miscanthus Sinensis ‘Huron Star’ will instead carry those creamy tan flowers. Although, when fall comes around, the foliage of the ‘Huron Star’ will feature unique shades of burgundy, gold, orange, and red. If purple plumes are more your taste, then look towards the grass Miscanthus Sinensis ‘Encore’, which will take on that shade of color during the latter part of the year, right before the winter frost arrives.
Another way to create a natural fence or enhance any ponds in your yard is with the help of Panicum virgatum. The grass Panicum virgatum ‘Apache Rose’ is a dense, dark bunch of green-grey leaves that take on a hint of red on their tips when fall comes around. If you want a bit more color variety, then the grass Panicum virgatum ‘Cheyenne Sky’ will do the trick.
This ornamental grass will first wow you with its blue-green foliage, but when the summertime arrives, that blue-green turns into deep wine-red. Later in the summer, the flower panicles of ‘Cheyenne Sky’ will begin turning into that same wine-red shade to match the foliage. Whichever time of year it is, ‘Cheyenne Sky’ will make an exotic addition to any garden.
