GARDEN DESIGN Garden design by Colette Charsley Designing with Grasses T
he main summer flowering season is now more or less over and this can leave a garden looking a bit worn out. However, there is a group of plants
that are at their best now, many of which will continue to give structure and colour right through the autumn, winter and into next spring. These are the ornamental grasses. Ornamental grasses are one of the easiest and most versatile of plants. There is a grass for every conceivable situation from full sun through to dry shade and bog gardens. The largest species can be used alongside or instead of shrubs to give height and mass whilst the smaller varieties can be used to edge paths. You can use them as screens or hedges and plant them in containers or hanging baskets. Plant them where they can be backlit by low sunlight or spotlight them at night.
One of the best things about using grasses is that they are low maintenance and dependable. The deciduous varieties only need chopping down to the ground in March each year and the evergreens just need a good combing through with a hand fork to remove any tatty bits. It is as simple as that. Here are my top 10: Anemanthele lessoniana. An evergreen grass with lovely autumn colours. Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’. Strong and upright. stands well throughout winter. Great architectural presence.
One of
the best things about using grasses is that they are low maintenance and dependable.
Chionochloa rubra. Comes from New Zealand and looks like a bronze fibre optic light. They are evergreen and simply wonderful. Deschampsia cespitosa. A lovely native grass for part shade. The flower heads float above the foliage like a gold veil. Hakonechloa macra. simple low growing grass. Works well as under-planting for shrubs and trees. Miscanthus. Wonderful flowers, usually pink. Come in all sizes from about 60cm to 3m tall. The larger varieties make good screens or hedges. stand well all winter. Molinia caerulea subsp. Arundinacea. Light and delicate flowers hover above clumps of wide green leaves. Colours to warm butter yellow and bronze in autumn.
Pennisetum. Mainly grown for their flower heads, Stipa, Calamagrostis and Penisetum © Marianne Majerus Professional Landscape and Garden Design
Creative and beautiful designs for village, town and country gardens
Colette Charsley PG Dip OCGD 01803 722449 07774 827799
colette@charsleydesign.com www.charsleydesign.com
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which are soft, fluffy and catkin like. Great grown where they can be stroked. Stipa gigantea. Plant it with the sun behind it and the huge golden oat like flowers will glow. evergreen. Stipa tenuissima. Blond and waves in the slightest breeze. Looks stunning planted en-masse. evergreen. colette@charsleydesign. com
www.charsleydesign.com t: 01803 722449. m: 07774 827799. Follow me on Twitter @ ColetteCharsley
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