Grasses: The Hair of the Earth

Even though the tomato plants have toppled their supports and the cuke and melon vines are yellowing and sprawled like frat boys following an all-night bash, I love this time of year in the garden.  Because while everything else is collapsing, the Fountain Grass (Miscanthus sinensis condensatus) is coming into its own. It stands near the entry like a bulky sentinel, whispering in every breeze.  Soon, it will send up magnificent inflorescences (plumy seed heads) that glow bronze and gold in the setting sun.  In December when the trees are bare, the glorious 8-foot tall plumes wave exuberantly despite the desiccation around them.

“They add to the design of any garden for winter interest,” says David Arnold, horticulturist at Garden Treasures in Easton. But it isn’t just color they add to a landscape.  “They also have a nice rustling sound, which adds to the whole effect.”

“Grasses are wonderful because they bloom late in the season and remain very attractive in winter,” says landscape architect, Wolfgang Oehme, partner in Oehme, Van Sweden and Associates in Baltimore and DC. Oehme has landscaped highways, public buildings and private estates, including Oprah Winfrey’s Chicago-area home. “In fact, some people like the wintertime look better than summer because they stand out more.”

“They’re also nice for hiding things,” says Larry Hemming, an owner of Eastern Shore Nurseries in Easton. “They’re nice for shoreline control and for weed control since they spread and choke out weeds. And they provide habitat for animals.”

Ornamental grasses include over 10,000 named species of true grass, sedges (carex and bamboo) and rushes like cattails.  The distinction between categories has to do in part with moisture requirements. Grasses need little moisture.  Sedges, which have triangular stems, (‘sedges have edges’ is the helpful mantra) need more, while rushes are usually happiest with slightly wet feet. It’s a matter of right plant, right place.

“Salt Meadow Hay (Spartina patens) is good just above the high tide line,” says Leslie Hunter-Cario, nursery manager at Environmental Concern in St Michaels.  “It’s salt tolerant,  has a really nice network of roots, and spreads by rhizomes, so it’s good for stabilizing shoreline. And it has a really pretty texture.”

It’s also relatively short — between one and three feet tall — so it won’t obscure a view. Slightly farther up the shoreline, where the roots and feet get washed occasionally, Switchgrass (Panicum) is a good choice.

“Switch grass has some salt tolerance,” says Hunter-Cario.  “Panicum amarum is really nice because it’s a blue-green in the fall. Most switchgrass gets a reddish cast.”

Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) is good above the high-water mark as well as in virtually any garden soil, and it grows only 2-3 feet tall, again preserving the view.

“It’s a nice texture and is a pretty blue-green-purple in fall,” says Hunter-Cario.

For fresh-water creek edges or ponds, she likes Soft Rush (Juncus effuses), which forms big clumps or hummocks of bright green stems with a red sheath at the base of the stem.

“They can take saturated ground,” says Hunter-Cario,  “and they have abundant delicate-textured flowers.”

Ornamental grasses were a favorite of German nurseryman, plant breeder, and writer, Karl Foerster, who introduced them to Europe in the 1930’s. He called grasses ‘the hair of the earth,’ a description that conjures images of Beethoven-wild clumps of bronzy leather grass, and vast rumpled stretches of streaked spartina.  One particular standout is Feather Reed Grass ‘Karl Foerster’ (Calamagrostis x. acutiflora ‘Karl Foertser’).  Three feet tall with bright green leaves, it sends up pale pink inflorescences in June that turn gold in autumn and light up the landscape all winter.  Its tight growth habit makes it ideal for pots and small gardens as well as for larger vistas, which makes it a growing favorite for green-leaning fast food places here. While it was Foertser who discovered this grass (which he called Calamagrostis epigejos ‘Hortorum’ from the Greek words for ‘reed’ and ’grass’), it was Wolfgang Oehme who brought it to the US.

“I first saw it in 1963 in Hamburg,” Oehme remembers.  Oehme brought a plant back to Kurt Bluemel, who propagated it in his Baltimore nursery.  ‘All the pieces in the country today come from this one plant,” Oehme insists.

Demand exploded after Oehme used it to landscape the Federal Reserve Building in Washington DC in 1977.

“Bluemel’s nursery couldn’t keep up with the demand,” remembers Oehme.   “So I went around to private gardens I had planted it in and begged pieces to help propagate to fill orders.”

Like tresses, grasses are wonderfully versatile and can be used to make a variety of statements from bold or funky, to iconoclastic, demure and elegant.  Short, tufty blue fescues reminiscent of Dr. Seuss characters can add long-lived color to a border or poke out of pots. Towering Pampas Grass (Cortaderias) or their dwarf cousins with their gorgeous fall plumes can punctuate a corner or create a screen that shushes in every breeze, while a thatch of zebra grass ( Miscanthus sinensis ‘Zebrinus’) can beautifully shield a chain-link fence.

CULTIVATION

Ornamental grasses generally prefer full sun, though some like Oriental Fountain Grass (Pennisetum orientale) and Carex trifida tolerate shade.

“They’re very easy,” says Arnold.  “Most are very drought-tolerant.”

When planting, consider the plant’s mature size or you’ll end up with an overgrown thatch that takes over. One rule of thumb is to space plants a distance apart equal to their mature height. For example, if the plant’s leaves reach 4-foot tall, they need to be 4 feet from their neighbors.

Unlike hair, grasses are almost maintenance free. Many benefit from being cut to within six inches of the ground in early spring before green growth starts.

“Miscanthus need to be cut down each year since dead stalks can choke out new growth,” explains Paulette Roan of Limerock Ornamental Grasses, which grows 180 grass varieties.  “But some of the carex you can leave.”

Large, mature grasses may need periodic spring division (which is also how they are best propagated), especially if the center of the plant is dead.  A sharp ax or spade helps slice through the dense root system though even with good tools it can be a backbreaking job.  Dig up the whole plant, slice it into two or more clumps then replant. Except in sandy soil and extreme drought, established ornamental grasses rarely need fertilization or irrigation. Unless otherwise specified, most will thrive as perennials here in Maryland, but be sure to ask if hardiness zone isn’t specified.

SOURCES:

Environmental Concern, Inc.

201 Boundary Lane

St Michaels, MD

410-745-9629

https://www.wetland.org/

 

Garden Treasures

29350 Matthewstown Rd.

Easton, MD 21601

(410) 822-1604

 

Eastern Shore Nurseries, Inc

30104 Dover Rd.

Easton, MD 21601

410-822-1320

 

 
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