Tonight, Charlie’s looking beyond the obvious heroes of your garden and giving an un-sung hero the spotlight for a change: grass. But it’s not the grass you might think. Charlie’s talking about ornamental grass. There are varieties for all types of locations and conditions, so whether you’re in a hot and dry area or cool and rainy, there’s an ornamental grass perfect for your garden.
WATCH: Charlie Albone shows you how to use ornamental grass in your garden
If ever there was a quiet achiever in a well-designed garden, it is an ornamental grass. On a passing glance, it appears to be used as filler or as a backdrop to the more exuberant stars of your garden.
But ornamental grasses are more than a garden’s backbone. They have a graceful and elegant beauty and, in being a subtle visual break in a bed of flowering plants, provide different shapes and textures, as well as contrast and softness.
They also have the unique ability among garden bed plants for their wispy leaf blades and flowering stalks to dance up a delight at the slightest of breezes.
Benefits of ornamental grasses
- Their tall flower heads shimmer in the afternoon sun
- They add drama in modern, minimalist gardens
- They’re ideal for dry, low-water gardens
- They provide habitats and help suppress weeds
- They’re very low maintenance – just trim back in late winter