Yes more ornamental grass love this foggy warm morning.
Deal with it.
Category Archives: Ornamental grass
Put another one in the books.
Last night I spoke with Shannon Currey, Director of Sales and Marketing at Hoffman Nursery, and it was all about ornamental grasses (boo ya). I kid you not, Shannon has my ideal job and I couldn’t be more jealous. She gets to bring grasses home and “trial” them. Are you kidding? Sign me up for that friggin job right now.
Anyway, if you want to hear us chat about our favorite grasses, ornamental grass trends and this year’s perennial plant of the year (spoiler alert, it’s an OG) take a listen through the following link:
And I highly recommend you check out the Hoffman Nursery website by clicking here. I get lost in the plant listings and I’m sure you will too.
John
It has been a busy past week or so with the holiday and all, so I thought I would bring you all up to speed on what has been going on.
Before I get into the details, here is an awesome photo of the autumn sky from this past week:
Yes, that was completely random and yes, I didn’t know where to fit it into this post and yes, I am looking for some mad props on the quality of the shot. Moving on …
This past week we took the kids into big bad New York City (or “The City”, as it is affectionately known here) to see the Christmas Spectacular:
The show was fantastic as it was the first time each of us had ever seen it. Times Square was, as always, sensory overload with hundreds of dressed up characters stalking people out like zombies. I’ve never seen so many ratty looking Elmos or Mickey Mouses (mice?) in my life and it became a game with the kids to see how well we could ignore their advances. Still, a good time as NYC is never dull.
It was a bittersweet moment on Thanksgiving as we spent our last holiday in the house I was born and raised in and where my parents still reside. My parents will soon be relocating closer to where we live and while we are thrilled to have them within a twenty minute drive, I’ll miss the old house deeply. Even more bittersweet is the fact that I could not get a good photo of the eats from Turkey Day. Food photography is not my strong suit and if I posted the lousy pics, it wouldn’t do my mom’s cooking any justice. The only solid photo I managed to get was of the cupcakes that my mom made for the kids:
With the ridiculous amount of off the charts food my wife provides us, I vow to become a capable gastronomical photographer. Especially with my need to write/photograph over the winter when there is very little gardening action. I’m serious y’all, prepare yourself for food posts over the next few months. I may not be able to cook a lick, but I know how to eat.
As is our tradition each year, we went and cut down our Christmas tree at the local tree farm:
One of these years I will purchase a tree I can some how manage to plant outdoors after Christmas. How, I am not sure. But I will give it a shot as I am a bit depressed looking at that limp tree I am holding above.
There were other day trips, work done in the house, meals eaten out and in, but I may lose you if I go on any further.
Alas, in keeping with the theme of this blog, I have some garden/landscape photos for you. To say they are mostly brown is an understatement, but remember, brown is a color too. I have come to appreciate the calm and quiet of the winter garden and the subtle pleasure it provides. However, I still haven’t found a way to fulfill that hard digging labor desire. I already miss the dirt under my fingernails.
Enjoy:
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| Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’ |
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| Miscanthus ‘Morning Light’ |
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| Miscanthus ‘Variegatus’ |
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| Grass on grass action – Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’ and Miscanthus purpurascens |
As the calendar swiftly moves from July to August, so does my attention move from the faded blooms on many of the perennials to the building excitement with most of the ornamental grasses. This is the time of year when the “warm season” grasses typically hit their stride and start to leave a serious impression. I am about OG’s all the time come August 1st and that will carry me through until December, weather permitting.
I shared the state of some of my ornamental grasses with you last week and to carry that exercise out further, here are some additional grasses as they look out in my garden as of today:
Miscanthus purpurascens (Flame Grass) is showing the first signs of that tremendous orange foliage color which is a sight to behold in a few more weeks:
While it still has yet to reach even 3 feet in height since I planted it three years ago, Miscanthus ‘Super Stripe’ still has that fantastic variegated foliage that contrasts so well with so many other shrubs/perennials. Now if it could also bloom with some sort of consistency, we may be on to something here:
What is there to say about Panicum (Switch Grass) ‘Northwind’? It has to be #1 or #2 on my ornamental grass list. The foliage always remains upright and tight, the foliage color of green/blue allows it to stand out from the other grasses and it holds up all winter without falling over. Whew … Is it hot in here or is it just this Switch Grass:
Let me preface my comments on the following OG with this; Northern Sea Oats reseeds like mad and can become a nuisance real quickly. Be very wary before adding these.
Having said that, they are pretty sweet looking im bloom with thier interesting “oats” and I have all of mine in one location where I let them seed to their heart’s content and it doesn’t impact any other plants:
That is it for today but I’m pretty sure I’ll have a third installment in the not so distant future. My ornamental grass collection is beyond what I even thought it was but during this time of year, it couldn’t be more exciting.
Let’s talk ornamental grasses today, shall we?
Good, glad you are game. Onward.
By far the most consistent ornamental grass for me in terms of size, shape, bloom and winter non toppling over-ness, Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’ is again kicking some serious booty, even in July:
You are looking at the best part of Calamagrostis (Feather Reed Grass) ‘El Dorado’:
But upon closer inspection, not all that great:
I have a bunch of these located all over the property and really none of them are impressing. The best looking one is in half shade so maybe that is the answer. More to come.
I know they are everywhere and similar to ‘El Dorado’ in terms of being rather “blah” (snobby horticultural term in case you haven’t heard it before) but I still like looking at the blooms on my ‘Karl Foerster’ Feather Reed Grasses from my deck, especially when backlit by the sun in late afternoon:
Another grass I’ve soured on of late is Pennisetum ‘Karley Rose’. The overall shape is weak and the bloom count has been small the past two years or so:
Maybe it is time to divide and that will improve things. Sounds like a nice Fall task to me.
You’ve heard me discuss it numerous times in the past, but I’ll say it again – Panicum (Switch Grass) ‘Rotstrahlbusch’ really kicks ass. The one that I divided this Spring is already blooming:
And another division from two years ago keeps on keeping on:
Still loving Purple Fountain Grass in containers, especially now that the ladies are blooming: 
Aren’t you two beauties (AKA Miscanthus ‘Variegatus’) holding up wonderfully:
And finally, you are looking at my new favorite resting place, now adorned with two Blue Dune Lyme Grass in containers:

There are plenty other grasses to review but we will give those some time to develop a bit further this Summer.
Hope you enjoyed.
John

This is usually the time of year when I really start to take notice of all of my ornamental grasses. OK, that’s a bit of a lie, I am watching them from the moment they show any sign of new growth in early spring, but you get the point.
So why not check out a current inventory of how my OG’s look:
Maybe my personal fave, Panicum ‘Northwind’ with it’s awesome uprightedness and blue green hue: 
Miscanthus ‘Variegatus’ making her presence known:
Northern Sea Oats and it’s great bright green foliage (not to mention serious re-seeding):
Miscanthus ‘Strictus’ and it’s awesome striped foliage:
Miscanthus ‘Cabaret’ (I believe) taking a nice shape:
Sorghastrum (Indian Grass) ‘Sioux Blue’ in year three is looking stellar:
Early blooms on Calamagrostis (Feather Reed) ‘Karl Foerster’:
And last but not least, the imposing Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’ fronted by Miscanthus ‘Purpurascens’ (Flame Grass):
And this is only the beginning. It only gets better from here and you can bet your arse I will be showing them off along the way.
John
I had the itch to get outside and “do something” today and based on the time of year, knew it was time to cut down the ornamental grasses. There was a time when this might be a 1/2 hour task, but with my steady accumulation of grasses over the years, it has become a monumental task.
Today was nasty; all sorts of windy and cold, but on a whim I asked the kids if they wanted to assist their dear dad with his gardening work. My daughter volunteered with gusto and put a huge smile on my face. We got all bundled up … well she did at least, because as you know, I’m way too tough and manly and can handle the rough conditions without a jacket or gloves.
The plan was for me to cut down the grasses with the hedge trimmer and she could help with carrying the dead grass blades to the compost bin. Things were moving swimmingly at first: 
But then she started to get bored.
I thought long and hard about letting her use the hedge trimmer and eventually figured I could allow it but only after a safety lesson from me. So we went through an impromptu training and I have to admit, she picked it up super quickly. I had some reservations at first, but she seemed good to go and the trimmer has a safety shut off and the blades are pretty dull. I knew she could do it.
Her first task, a bunch of ‘Karl Foerster’ grasses: 
She attacked with reckless abandon and did a phenomenal job:
Next, was a decent sized Switch grass:
Again, no problem at all for my little girl:
We took a break, so I grabbed my phone ready to record my young apprentice at work. Girlfriend kicked some serious butt:
Damn impressive, eh?
We weren’t able to cut down all of the grasses, but I promised my daughter she could continue to be the “cutter”. Yeah baby!
Before we could head back indoors, I made sure to give one final lesson to my protege and shared with her the differences between “cool season” and “warm season” grasses. We got down on our knees and I showed her how this Feather Reed grass is already showing signs of new growth in this cold weather:
All in all, a damn good day. I got some gardening chores done and my daughter was officially introduced to power tools.
John
It was time to get down to business yesterday afternoon.
I grabbed my camera, my phone, a notebook, a pen and my shitkicking boots and headed out into the yard. It may have been bitterly cold with a wind chill in like the single digits, but I didn’t care. There was serious work to get done and a little frostbite wasn’t going to get in the way.
So there I was, in full on planning mode with a single minded purpose of determining which existing garden beds would be extended (short answer: all of them) and where would new beds be created (short answer: everywhere). As you may know, I live on a 2+ acre property that was a complete blank canvas when we moved in back in late 2004. I’ve done my best to add as many trees, shrubs and perennials as possible, but there is still a long ass way to go. It can become overwhelming at times but who am I to complain? The possiblities are endless (well not really; the deer are a nightmare, the soil sucks … sorry … where was I?).
As I surveyed my lot and started drawing imaginary bed lines in my head (notebook and pen were a bad idea, my fingertips still haven’t recovered), I came to a relatively easy realization; I am going to focus mainly on adding ornamental grasses to the landscape. This is generally borne out of necessity based on my previously documented struggles with deer and wet soil, but it also felt like a welcome challenge. Could I make a high volume of ornamental grasses look natural and appealing? Could I add just the right number of non-grasses to keep things interesting and varied?
All of this will be worked on feverishly the next few months and as always, I’ll be documenting it all along the way. I plan on adding some seriously large grasses that are in the 8-12 foot range and some new mid-size grasses I’ve been researching for a while now. But most importantly, I am making a serious commitment to dividing my existing grasses and spreading the wealth all over the yard. Yes, I’ll be savings some serious dinero, but the manual effort will be epic.
What has two thumbs and can handle any physical challenge thrown his way? This guy (now imagine me pointing to myself with a cocky grin for the true effect for that riddle.)
For today, I want to address my grass detractors (you know who you are … or maybe I made you up for false inspiration) by demonstrating that grasses are not only good for their fall display and little else. Yes, they typically put on their best show in late summer and fall, but they can shine at other times as well. They are a great complement to blooming shrubs and perennials and also offer great foliage contrast to non-blooming shrubs and perennials.
And here is my Exhibit A:

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| Joe Pye Weed and Miscanthus ‘Morning Light’ (Summer) |
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| Joe Pye Weed and Miscanthus ‘Morning Light’ (Fall) |

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| Peony and Panicum (Switch grass) |
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| Penstemon ‘Husker’s Red’ and Panicum (Switch grass) |
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| Spirea ‘Snowstorm’, Viburnum ‘Aurora’ and Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’ |
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| Weigela ‘Wine and Roses’ and Panicum (Switch grass) |
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| Panicum (Switch grass) blooms and Rudbeckia |
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| Spirea ‘Anthony Waterer’ and Panicum (Switch grass) |
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| Rose of Sharon and Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’ |
Feel the love? I know I do.
More to come my friends …
John