Hardy Ornamental Grasses…
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Do you want a low maintenance, tough alternative for your yard? Look to ornamental grasses! They offer landscape interest from late spring through late winter. Think of them as a ‘buff’ evergreen for your winter garden. Grasses provide:
- Variegated or colorful Fall leaves that offer good contrast with other plants
- Color and texture in Fall
- Winter interest especially when paired with evergreens
- Low maintenance care
- A lovely solution for windy locations
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What Size Do You Need?
Size varies from small, front of the border accent grasses to large focal points of over 12 feet. Larger grasses make excellent screens, windbreaks, or striking accent points in the landscape. Plant ornamental grasses where the wind can move through them. Movement and sound will add a new dimension to your garden.
Growing Conditions and Maintenance
Most grasses need full sun, though a few varieties are adaptable to part shade. Soil should be reasonably fertile. Water consistently during the first season to establish healthy root growth. Add 1”–2” of mulch to conserve moisture around the roots. Once established, most grasses require much less moisture and minimal feeding. Once-a-year maintenance includes cutting the old foliage back in early spring before new blades emerge.
Ornamental grasses fall into one of two categories—cool season or warm season. Cool season grasses produce new growth about the same time as bulbs and peonies, while warm season grasses tend to wait until warmer weather begins. Take advantage of these traits to complement spring flowers or hide dying bulb foliage.
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Big Bluestem
Photo Courtesy Bailey Nurseries Inc
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Big Bluestem (Andropogon)
Height: 4'-7'
Spread: 2'-3'
Type: Warm Season
Exposure: Full Sun
Other Notes: A native North American Grass. Silvery-blue foliage with purplish flower spikes in late summer. Foliage turns a reddish-copper color in fall. Clumping.
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Blue Fescue (Festuca glauca)
‘Boulder Blue’
Height: 8”-12”
Spread: 8”-12”
Type: Cool Season
Exposure: Sun
Other Notes: Mound forming, blue green in color, early summer flowering, good companion for gray or purple foliage and spring bulbs
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Boulder Blue
Photo Courtesy Bailey Nurseries Inc
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'Blonde Ambition' Blue Gramma Grass
Photo Courtesy Plant Select
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Blue Gramma Grass (Bouteloua)
'Blonde Ambition'
Height: 30"-36"
Spread: 30"-36"
Exposure: Full to Part Sun
Type: Warm Season
Other Notes: Blue green foliage gives rise to chartreuse, aging to buff, flag-like flowers. These seed heads remain in winter giving a completely new look of ornamental seed heads for the home gardener. A Plant Select plant.
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Photo Courtesy Walters Gardens Inc
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Blue Avena Grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens)
Height: 2’-3’
Spread: 2’-3’
Exposure: Sun
Type: Cool Season
Other Notes: Fine, spiky arching blue-green blades with oatlike seedheads. Foliage stays low and the seedheads create a fan-like appearance
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Karl Foerster Late Summer
Photo Courtesy Walters Gardens Inc
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Karl Foerster Early Summer
Photo Courtesy Bailey Nurseries Inc
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Feather Reed Grass
(Calamagrostis arundinacea)
‘Karl Foerster’
‘Overdam' (variegated white & green leaves)
Height: 3’-4’
Spread: 2’
Exposure: Sun to part sun
Type: Cool season
Other Notes: Blooms early, upright narrow habit, and fine textured arching blades. Decorative plumes fade to yellow cream in winter. One of the earliest to emerge in spring.
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Feather Reed Grass Winter
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Overdam
Photo Courtesy Bailey Nurseries Inc
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Little Bunny
Photo Courtesy Walters Gardens Inc
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Fountain Grass, Dwarf (Pennisetum)
Variety: 'Little Bunny'
Height: 18" (in bloom)
Spread: 20"-24"
Exposure: Full Sun
Type: Warm Season
Other Notes: A miniature fountain grass that mixes well in beds and borders.
Fuzzy seed heads appear in mid-summer and resemble 'bunny tails.' Foliage turns
golden rust in Fall.
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Indian Rice Grass (Oryzopsis)
Height: 18"-24"
Spread: 12"
Exposure: Full Sun
Type: Cool Season
Other Notes: A North American native bunchgrass... this small stature grass adds light and airy texture to borders.
It looks delicate but this is a tough grass that can survive in dry conditions, often growing with sagebrush and Juniper.
Requires well-drained soil. Will re-seed.
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Japanese Blood Grass (Imperata)
Variety: 'Red Baron'
Height: 18"-20"
Spread: 18"
Exposure: Full Sun
Type: Warm Season
Other Notes: Another grass for pronounced burgundy color. Emerges green with red tips and deepens as the season progresses.
Plant in well-drained, moist soil. This grass is grown for it's foliage as flowers are insignificant. It will naturalize over time and is
considered invasive in some parts of the U.S.
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Aureola
Photo Courtesy Walters Gardens Inc
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Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa)
Variety: 'Aureola'
Height: 1'-2'
Spread: 2'-3'
Exposure: Morning or dappled light. Will also grow in full shade.
Avoid hot afternoon sun.
Type: Warm Season -- truly, it will be slow to emerge in Spring.
Other Notes: Brilliant yellow foliage tinges pinkish red in cooler weather.
Beautiful cascading habit. Seed heads are inconspicuous. Average water
needs -- but prefers consistent moisture.
Leaves tinged in cold
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Photo Courtesy Bailey Nurseries Inc
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Korean Feather Grass
(Calamagrostis brachytricha)
Height: 4'
Spread: 3'
Exposure: Sun to Part Sun
Type: Warm Season
Other Notes: Unlike it's cousin, Feather Reed Grass, Korean Feather is a WARM season grass that hails from Asia. It will come into full glory as summer progresses with blooms late summer into early fall. Plumes are purplish red when they first open and then lighten to a greenish tan. A striking wide bladed grass that is adaptable to partial shade! Flowering will be more profuse in full sun. Habit is upright and arching. Zone 4.
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Prairie Blues
Photos Courtesy Walters Gardens Inc
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Little Bluestem Grass (Schizachyrium)
Variety: 'Prairie Blues'
Height: 3'
Spread: 18"
Exposure: Full Sun
Type: Warm Season
Other Notes: A North American native with narrow blue-gray blades. Silver seed heads appear in Fall. Foliage color will change to pinkish orange as temperatures cool in Autumn. Will grow in hot dry areas.
Fall Color
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Maiden - Gracillimus
Photo Courtesy Walters Gardens Inc
Morning Light
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Maiden - Gracillimus in Fall
Photo Courtesy Bailey Nurseries Inc
Porcupine (Strictus)
Photo Courtesy Walters Gardens Inc
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Maiden Grass (Miscanthus)
Also known as Eulalia Grass
Height: 4’-6’
Spread: 3’-5’
Exposure: Sun
Type: Warm season
Other Notes: Vase to round shaped grasses, bloom in late summer and fall, tassels usually hang on into winter. A long-lived landscape plant. Put it where you want it because they are difficult to move once established.
Varieties:
Maiden Grass/Eulalia (gracillimus): 5’-6'H x 3’-4’W Rounded mounds of fine, silver veined green leaves have a graceful arch. Fall: Golden yellow foliage, plumes emerge reddish and tinge to silvery white. One of the oldest types of Maiden Grass.
Porcupine: 4'-6'H x 4'-6'W, horizontal cream banding on wide green blades. Upright, arching vase habit.
Morning Light: 4'H x 3'W, variegated white and green leaves, rounded habit
Yaku Jima: 3'-4'H x 3'-4'W. Green foliage. Buff flowers with red tinges fade to silver. Foliage is reddish brown in Fall, fading to tan in winter
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Pony Tails
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Mexican Feather Grass
(Stipa tenuissima AKA Nasella)
Variety: 'Pony Tails'
Height: 18"-24"
Spread: 18"-24"
Exposure: Full Sun
Type: Cool Season (Evergreen)
Other Notes: Buff seed heads persist on bright green blades all season. Moves in the slightest breeze and creates a lovely texture. May be short-lived but does best in well-drained, poor to average soil. Heat and drought tolerant. Zone 6 -- but often overwinters in Zone 5. Wonderful in containers too.
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Northern Sea Oats
Photo Courtesy Bailey Nurseries Inc
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Northern Sea Oats
Photo Courtesy Walters Gardens Inc
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Northern Sea Oats (Chasmanthium)
Height: 24”
Spread: 24”-36”
Exposure: Partial Shade
Type: Warm season
Other Notes: Bronze-green bamboo-like, foliage that takes on coppery tones in fall. Has pendulous ‘oat’ type tan seed heads that also deepen to copper in fall. Provide moisture for this grass.
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Photo Courtesy Walters Gardens Inc
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Pampas / Ravenna Grass (Erianthus ravennae)
Height: 10’-12’
Spread: 5’
Exposure: Sun
Type: Warm Season
Other Notes: Very tall—excellent specimen grass. Arching green leaves stay at about 3’. Blooms late summer, of tall silver/purple panicles rise above the foliage to 12’. Lightens to a buff color that holds all winter. Colorado’s alternative to true non-hardy Pampas Grass.
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Picta
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Ribbon Grass (Phalaris arundinacea)
Picta (white/green foliage)
Strawberries and Cream (pink tinge to the white/green leaf)
Height: 24’-36’
Spread: 3’-4’+
Exposure: Sun to part sun
Type: Cool season
Other Notes: Warning: This grass likes to go romping thru your garden. In other words—it spreads! So put it in a place where you don’t mind it wandering. Variegated green/white foliage is very striking. May go brown in hot weather.
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Strawberries and Cream
Photo Courtesy Bailey Nurseries Inc
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Strawberries and Cream
Photo Courtesy Bailey Nurseries Inc
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Shenandoah Switch Grass
Photo Courtesy Bailey Nurseries Inc
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Switch Grass (Panicum)
'Shenandoah'
Height: 3’-4’
Spread: 2'-3'
Exposure: Sun
Type: Cool Season
Other Notes: This is a smaller version of switch grass. Green leaves are tipped in burgundy in early summer. As the season progresses, the burgundy color becomes more prominent. Flowers are pink, airy plumes held high above the grass. The entire grass will age to a buff color in winter.
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Tufted Hair Grass
Photo Courtesy Bailey Nurseries Inc
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Tufted Hair Grass (Deschampsia)
'Northern Lights'
Height: 1'
Spread: 1'
Exposure: Part Sun (avoid hot afternoon sun)
Type: Cool Season
Other Notes: This grass would enjoy a morning sun, or dappled light location. It is a bog grass, so a moist location is key. It will reward you with delicate early buff flowers in June. Small in stature, it mixes well in perennial gardens. 'Northern Lights' has green/cream variegated leaves that tinge pink in cool weather.
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