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Grasses highlighted – 1st anniversary

I have been asked a few times by many to put together a more detailed post on the Grass Feature in my front garden. It is one of my very special places in my garden and takes pride of place (ok – the veggie patch is still the number one!) This is the month of its 1st Anniversary, so we can really go back and see how it looked 1 year ago.

There are a variety of grasses and they were all chosen to work well together – height, shape and colour. I remember the planning and drawing and the digging and arranging and re-arranging. It was one of my more dramatic and labour intensive projects because of the dry river bed feature in the middle of it all.

As it looks now – with all the grasses labelled.

1. Pennisetum “Red Buttons”

[one_half][/one_half]

[one_half_last][/one_half_last]

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2. Carex Buchananii

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3. Carex Amazon Mist

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4. Festuca Glauca

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5. & 8. Calamagrostis “Karl Foerster”

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6. Miscanthus Sinensis Gracillimus

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7. Panicum Virgatum “Shenandoah”

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9.  Deschampsia Caespitosa “Tuffed Hair Grass”

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[one_half_last][/one_half_last]

10. & 13. Phorium Rubra nana & 11. Pennisetum Setaceum Rubrum-Red Fountain Grass

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12. Carex Frosted Curls

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14. Aristida & other

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[one_half_last][/one_half_last]

I hope that this has been interesting. It was great to see how this Grass Feature keeps changing through the seasons – Autumn shows a new face.

Happy Gardening xxx

 

By Barbara

Country living is the best! Being a true spirit of the earth, my garden is all about vegetables and fruit trees and herbs and chickens roaming free. I was keen to really start gardening when we moved to Philadelphia in 2005, but not your typical suburban-type garden – sterile and bug-free! I wanted an edible garden.

12 replies on “Grasses highlighted – 1st anniversary”

I get so surprised to see the same plants being used clear across the world in many cases. Most of what you have in your garden, I regularly use in design work. They are reliable and containable.

I just love how you’ve combined all the different grasses with all the different hues and sizes! They compliment each other so nicely. What a great corner! I’m never quite sure where to place grass in my garden, so I love all your posts about it!

Thank you so much – it helps when you go to ONE nursery and find all the grasses you need! I know that I will now use more grasses in my other patches, like Christine has done.

Grasses are my absolute favourites in the garden and I wouldn’t be without them. Yours work really well and I’m sure give all year interest and movement in your Australian garden. Christina

Thank you Christina – the seasonal changes are interesting – October being my favourite so far!
Ah hemm… we are in Cape Town South Africa! 🙂

Beautiful!

I’m 100% positive #6 is not Miscanthis sinensis ‘Gracillimus’ or any other Miscanthus. I looked through my ornamental grasses book and it might be an Eragrostis species — a “lovegrass” — I’m not really sure though. Can you post or email me close-up photos of the grass blades and seed heads?

Haa… I will take a photo for you – close up. I have also seen an article on grasses in my gardening magazine, and their photo of Miscanthus is the same as mine. I will also take a photo of this and show you! We will get to the bottom of this “stranger” in my grass patch! 🙂

In theory grasses should grow in my garden and I really should sow the seed I bought last year when I was in the throes of my prairie gardening passion, But do I still love them enough to try? Or am I just a star-crossed lover fearing failure expecting the howling winds to tear them to shreds? Oh dear is this the seeds of another Gardening Dilemmas post?
Happy Easter from a wet, cold and windy island.

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