Ornamental landscape grasses have showy flowers and seed heads.
Landscapers, gardeners and homeowners use ornamental grasses for their luminosity, for the sound and movement they create, for their architectural quality, and for their variety of form, texture, color and scale. Most ornamental landscape grasses are either clump-forming or rhizome-forming hardy perennials, returning year after year, but some grasses are tender annuals that require planting from seed each year.
Tall Annual Grasses
Tall annual ornamental grasses include purple majesty millet, tender fountain grass and dwarf pampas grass. Purple majesty millet is an impressive specimen, a fast-growing grass that grows 4 to 5 feet high with tall purple stems, long, narrow purple leaves and tall purple flower spikes. It requires full sun and is heat- and drought-tolerant. This grass is a striking backdrop for light-purple-, yellow- or red-flowering plants and retains its purple coloring all season. Tender fountain grass has showy pink to purple flowers, fuzzy seed heads and fine-textured foliage. It quickly grows 3 to 4 feet high with green foliage that turns brown in the fall. It requires full sun and good drainage. Dwarf pampas grass is grown for its flower heads that appear in showy thick plumes. This grass grows up to 3 feet tall in an attractive arching fountain habit and produces many feathery flower heads. It needs a consistent water source and does not tolerate drought.
Mid-Size Annual Grasses
Annual ornamental grasses that grow 1 to 2 feet tall include ruby grass and lemon grass. Ruby grass has attractive blue-green foliage that reaches only 1 foot high and produces long, pendulous, ruby-pink flower heads. The foliage turns purple-red in the fall, and the flower heads turn a silvery color as they mature. Lemon grass is a tropical grass grown as an ornamental and culinary plant. It has a fresh citrus fragrance and taste and is used in teas, soups, curries and savory dishes. It grows 2 feet high in a fountain habit with tall leaf blades.
Unusual Annual Grasses
Annual ornamental grasses that create unusual interest in the garden and landscape include great quaking grass and feather top, or bunny tails. Great quaking grass grows up to 2 feet high with long sparse leaves and abundant, attractive seed heads that quake and shake in the wind. It needs a lot of water and full sun to grow well. It's also called rattlesnake grass for the sound its seed heads make in the wind. Feather top, or bunny tails, grows 2 feet high and produces mounds of cottony flowers on green stems. This grass is grown for fresh- and dried-flower arrangements and for its unusual appearance in the garden. It needs full sun and is drought-tolerant.
Tips for Growing Annual Grasses
Most annual ornamental grasses grow easily from seed but require warmth and consistent water to germinate. They can be sown directly in the garden or started indoors a few weeks before the last hard frost. Most ornamental grasses will suffer in waterlogged and shady locations, so plant them in a sunny location with good drainage, and water weekly in the spring when plants are getting established. They need little attention after that to produce beautiful displays of attractive foliage, flowers and seed heads.
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