For an easy and low-maintenance design choice, ornamental grasses are one of the most useful plants you can include in your garden. Grasses work with just about every style of yard, and their many benefits range from the practical to the aesthetic.
If you love the idea of the rewilding trend and the move towards embracing more biodiversity in your garden, landscaping with ornamental grasses is natural fit. In fact, they are an integral part of naturalistic garden design.
Plant Miscanthus sinensis ‘Red Cloud’ and bring borders alive with a combination of color, texture and movement
(Image credit: Alamy/ Tim Wright)
6 ideas for landscaping with ornamental grasses
‘Grasses provide not only structure and form but also movement and a range of talents to perfectly complement most other plants,’ says grass expert Neil Lucas, author of Grasses for Gardens and Landscapes, available at Amazon. ‘Grasses are also versatile and adaptable. When used together in large informal drifts they create a feeling of relaxed naturalness.’
While often associated with dry gardens there are also grasses that suit shady spots and even some that love their roots in water. So whatever your situation there’s a variety that will work. There really is no end to the reasons why you should consider landscaping with ornamental grasses.
Neil Lucas is the UK’s leading ornamental grass specialist, RHS judge and holder of nine consecutive Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medals. His renowned naturalistic gardening style can be seen first hand at Knoll Gardens, his four-acre showcase in Dorset, England, from where he also runs the Knoll Gardens Foundation dedicated to promoting the benefits of sustainable gardening.
1. Use grasses to soften steps, walkways and patios
Use ornamental grass to add pockets of planting that will break up hardscaped areas
(Image credit: Jacky Hobbs/Future)
Choose ideas for landscaping with ornamental grasses to soften the impact of hard materials like stone, concrete and boulders. A mix of grasses can be used to edge hardscaping either informally for a naturalistic effect or in a more modern design with a regular pattern. It helps to blur the lines between nature and man-made surfaces.
‘The cascading foliage of ornamental grasses is so graceful and works well to soften edges of hardscaped areas like walkways and patios,’ says landscaping expert Jeremy Martin of Willow Gates Landscaping in Mohnton, PA. ‘Carex ‘Everillo’ is hands down the most popular grass we use for this. It also pairs well with boulders, again softening the appearance and making the boulders look like they’ve been there for ever.’
Choose an evergreen grass and it will also offer a welcome spot of color through the winter months. Jeremy also likes using Pennisetum ‘Hameln’. ‘Any grass will help soften hard edges, and ‘Hameln’ is no exception. Foliage remains a dark green, flowers emerge a light pink and age to tan. This grass is spectacular too when lit with landscape lighting’.
Jeremy is the CEO of Willow Gates Landscaping. With over 20 years’ experience, he is an expert in patio and hardscape design and installation, including outdoor kitchens, landscaping lighting, and walls.
2. Add shape and texture to planting
Ornamental grasses pull together a planting design
(Image credit: Annika Zetterman)
‘Grasses stand out among perennial plants for their particular quality of shape and form,’ says Neil Lucas. ‘Whether in association with other broadleaved plants or in large, grasses only plantings, their characteristic outline brings cohesion to design while allowing for light and easy movement.’
As well as sculptural qualities many ornamental grasses add interesting texture to planting schemes. Dense plantings of low grass such as carex can look wave-like as they ripple in the breeze, while tall feathery types like miscanthus just demand to be brushed with your fingertips.
If you’re landscaping with grasses don’t forget they are one of the best plants for ground cover too especially when paired with gravel or pebbles. This is a great combination for xeriscaping and dry garden projects, as well as Mediterranean garden designs.
3. Screen a relaxation area with tall grasses
Ornamental grasses can be used as a natural privacy screen
(Image credit: Annika Zetterman)
If there’s an area of the garden for relaxation you can enhance a sense of seclusion by including ornamental grasses in your design. It’s easy to use ornamental grasses for privacy to create an informal screen that will help to divide off this area from the rest of the yard.
The rippling movement of the grasses will be soothing and will also bring the screen to life. ‘Grasses and grass-like plants add an upright component to the garden and their slender blades undulate in the breeze, bringing movement to the garden,’ says gardening expert Nan Sterman, author of Hot Color, Dry Garden, available here at Amazon. ‘Movement adds another dimension that speaks to our senses. It is the perfect complement to visual structure and texture.’
Choose a tall variety of ornamental grass for massing in a screen like Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’ (available from Walmart), with stems that reach 6 ft, or Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’ (available from Walmart), with a mature height of 5 ft.
Nan Sterman is passionate about plants, has degrees in botany and biology, and her work has appeared in many major gardening publications. Her Emmy award–winning TV show A Growing Passion airs on public television in San Diego and online at AGrowingPassion.com. Nan lives in Encinitas, California, where she speaks, teaches, and writes about sustainable gardening, and designs landscapes for both private and public spaces.
4. Introduce height and drama to flowerbeds and borders
This pampas grass adds an eye-popping details to the planting design
(Image credit: Brian Hoffman/Alamy Stock Photo)
If you want to add some statement plants to your garden design then landscaping with ornamental grasses is an easy way in. There’s a whole smorgasbord to choose from. Different types of grass will add height, depth, color and drama to become a key focal point in garden border planting.
There are many varieties of grass that qualify as statement plants. Pampas grass is the go-to if you want to add a really flamboyant touch, and have the space – these beauties need room to fulfil their majestic potential, though they are classed as invasive in some states. You can check with your local extension service if you’re unsure. Tall purple moor grass also needs its own space to fully form the eye-catching arcs of foliage that are its signature look.
Excellent for adding height and structure to the back of borders, striking Miscanthus sinensis ‘Zebrinus’ (available from Walmart) features stripy cream and green blades, together with copper-pink flowers that make a showy architectural feature.
5. Make ornamental grasses your go-to for naturalistic landscaping
Ornamental grasses are a must for a naturalistic relaxed-style of planting
(Image credit: Alamy/Saxon Holt)
‘Naturalistic planting comprises large swathes of perennials and grasses that fill a space rather than being confined to conventional borders,’ according to leading landscape designers Rosemary Alexander and Rachel Myers, co-authors of landscaping bible The Essential Garden Design Workbook, from Amazon. ‘They are redolent of their wildflower meadow counterparts, but in reality they are quite distinct.’
The large-scale naturalistic plantings of luminaries such as Piet Oudolf are hugely influential, but the good news is they also translate to a much smaller space such as your garden. ‘For instance, perennials such as echinacea and sanguisorba might be combined with grasses like miscanthus and panicum,’ is the advice from Rosemary and Rachel. ‘Drifts intermingle at the edges to create a free flow and hint at nature’s hand taking charge.’
This more relaxed approach to planting is right on trend. So if you love the idea of naturalistic planting design and prairie planting be sure to make landscaping with ornamental grasses central to your project.
Rosemary Alexander is founder and principal of the English Gardening School, a talented garden designer, and a skilful educator. In the UK, she is a trustee of the Great Dixter Charitable Trust and judges regularly for the Royal Horticultural Society. She is well known on the international lecture circuit.
Rachel Myers is a landscaping expert specialising in small garden design. She has designed gardens in France, Belgium, and Colombia. At the English Gardening School, Rachel lectures on both garden design and practical horticulture diploma courses. Her work has been featured in numerous books and magazines.
6. Include ornamental grasses in rain garden designs
Many ornamental grasses can tolerate both wet and dry conditions such as you find in rain gardens
(Image credit: Saxon Holt/Alamy Stock Photo)
Choose landscaping with ornamental grasses as it’s one of the best ways to fill in the planting in rain gardens, especially if you include some evergreen varieties for year-round interest such as Carex pendula (also known as drooping sedge). We love this variety so much it made it onto our list of best plants for a rain garden.
‘Rain gardens are periodically both very wet and very dry,’ explains Neil Lucas. ‘In the natural world such changeable conditions are frequently encountered where water and land coincide. So a range of plants such as carex have adapted to take advantage of these sometimes challenging environments. This successful strategy can be used to great effect in our designed spaces too, especially when planting rain gardens.’
Find out more about the best plants for a rain garden if you have an area in your yard that regularly collects water after a downpour.
FAQs
What plants go well with ornamental grasses?
Elegant ornamental grasses will combine effortlessly with flowering plants to create a naturalistic display that’s so easy to create.
It’s best to partner ornamental grasses with some of the best perennials like coneflowers, salvia, verbena, santolina, sanguisorba and poppies. These plants all have a light and floaty aesthetic that partners perfectly with ornamental grasses. They’re also easy to grow for a winning combination, and many will self-seed to spread around even more joy.
Ornamental grasses work really well for chaos gardening ideas too, as they provide height and texture among the backdrop of perennials and self-seeders. Check out the best miscanthus varieties, as these are the go-to for both chaos gardening and landscaping with ornamental grasses.