Grass. No, not that kind. Or that kind. This kind. The yard kind. The prarie kind. The tall kind. The accent kind.
I don’t know about y’all, but I have a deep love/hate relationship with grasses. I love the way they look, I hate the fact that they can be so invasive that some aren’t allowed where I live, so on that note, remember to check and see which are allowed in your neck of the world. Most of your local master gardeners training centers will have invasive species lists, check your list against their list before you order anything online. Or better yet, support your local independent garden centers, and go ask them. I cannot hammer that home often enough. Local independents may not have the buying power that a Home Depot or a Lowes has, but they bring in what works best for the region you live in. So you pay a little more, but you probably won’t be returning hundreds of dead plants and crying tears because your yard suddenly looks awful because you bought a bunch of plants that don’t work for your area.
Rant over.
Since these are all accents, I’m going skip a lot of the design-y stuff like what you would use these for no one needs to read the same thing over and over again.
Let’s get into this.
Hakonechloa macra var. ‘Aureola’
Zone: 4-9
Light: Partial sun
Plant Type: Grass
Size: Slow growing 12-18″ tall and wide
Uses: Can be used like a dwarf bamboo without the headaches that bamboo can bring.
Pennisetum alopecuroides var. ‘Viridescens’
Zone: 5-9
Light: Fullsun
Plant Type: Grass
Size: Slow growing 2-3′ tall and wide
Uses: Deer resistant. Think rock garden as well.
Helictotrichon sempervirens
Zone: 4-9
Light: Full sun
Plant Type: Grass
Size: Moderate growing 2-3′ tall and wide
Uses: Deer resistant. Works really well in very high temperatures.
Panicum virgatum var. Heavy Metal
Zone: 4-9
Light: Full sun
Plant Type: Grass
Size: Moderate growing upright 3′ tall and wide
Uses: Birds love the seeds off of this in the fall.
Chondropetalum tectorum
Zone: 8-10
Light: Full sun
Plant Type: Grass
Size: Slow growing upright 3′ tall and wide
Uses: Low water use plant. Looks awesome around pools and in big boulder rock gardens.
Juncus effusus var. ‘Spiralis’
Zone: 4-9
Light: Partial to full sun
Plant Type: Grass
Size: 12-18″ tall and wide.
Uses: Water gardens or use in very moist climates only.
Calamagrostis acutiflora
Zone: 4-9
Light: Full sun
Plant Type: Grass
Size: 3-4′ tall and up to 1.5′ wide.
Uses: Mass plant and can be used as a groundcover.
Nassella tenuissima
Zone: 4-9
Light: Full sun
Plant Type: Grass
Size: Airy clumps to 24″ tall and wide.
Uses: Mass plant and can be used as a groundcover.
Muhlenbergia capillaris var. ‘Lenca’
Zone: 6-9
Light: Full sun
Plant Type: Grass
Size: 4′ tall and wide.
Uses: Plant this so that as the sun sets, it goes behind these. They glow. It’s spectacular.
Pennisetum purpureum var. ‘Prince’
Zone: 8-11
Light: Full sun
Plant Type: Grass
Size: 5-6′ tall and wide.
Uses: The hotter it gets, the darker these get. Will not set flowers in regions where winter weather goes below 0 degrees.
What grasses complete your prarie garden? Let me know in the comments, I learning about new plants. Surprise me. You can order seeds for these great grasses through the Amazon Crasstalk link.
Photo Credits: Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’. Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Viridescens’. Helictotrichon sempervirens. Panicum virgatum. Chondropetalum tectorum. Juncus effusus spiralis. Calamagrostis acutiflora. Nassella tenuissima. Muhlenbergia capillaris ‘Lenca’. Pennisetum purpureum. Title Image.