Leaves of Grass

Ignore the cute little bulbs. Pass on the flowering shrubs. Say no to conifers, Japanese maples and other trendy greenery. For this fall's hot garden, just go prairie. Herald a drier look that sways in the breeze and embraces color and texture: ornamental grasses.

"That (large-scale ornamental grass gardening) is something that is up and coming," said Randy McDaniel, owner of McDaniel Land Designs in Birmingham, Ala. "And I'm sure in other parts of the world, it is already here.

"I don't know if it will ever be the camellia or azalea of the South, but I think it will become a landscape staple that will always find its way into the landscape and look appropriate," McDaniel said.

Ornamental grasses are far from the finely trimmed stuff of manicured yards in need of sprinkling, fertilizing, reseeding, replanting and mowing.

Neither are these ornamental grasses solely 6-foot-plus monster mounds of pampas clumped around the property as though it were a beachfront condo.

A whispery ornamental grass garden offers varying shapes, heights, textures and colors, like one might try with a conifer garden or wildflower garden. That's right--a look whose time has not yet come, but experts say probably will.

"A lot of people are not familiar enough with them to use them that way," said Betty Howton, co-owner of Growing Places Gardens & Landscape in Birmingham. "Most people are like me. I didn't know anything about them, didn't have any appreciation for them, and wasn't very interested in them.

"I really didn't know what you did with them or where you put them," Howton said. This was back when Howton and fellow co-owner Mack Terry were opening their business in 1998. Today, they offer a library at their store for customers, including books on the subject of ornamental grasses, Howton said.

"It's a very natural feel," Howton said. "It kind of reminds me of living out in the country. It looks like an area you'd like to put a hammock up in and take a nap--kind of like we didn't try really hard to do this, but didn't it turn out great."

For the beginning gardener, care is a cinch, as ornamental grasses are sturdy, drought resistant, relatively inexpensive (starting at less than $10 and going up to $60 or $70 for a 25-gallon pot) and usually perennial.

For the advanced gardener, the grasses offer challenge in their arrangement options, such as what colors and textures to place where, and what other sorts of greenery to incorporate with the grasses for a finished touch.

"They're great for natural areas, they're great for low-maintenance areas, and they're great for accent plants," Howton said.

In one garden he's involved with, McDaniel likes to blend the grasses the way a painter might mix paints, with dwarf Virginia sweetspire, a shrub that turns orange-y red in fall, along with a burning bush, a brilliant red standout; baby's breath spiraea, which turns orange; and pennisetum or fountain grass, an ornamental grass that slips into a brown hue for fall.

This specific garden masks parking for the home from the street, "so when you drive by, you have plants at all different height levels," McDaniel explained. The grass grows low, while the burning bush grows rather tall.

Howton suggested organizing an ornamental grass garden by varying grass shapes and heights.

Her garden would include a tall grass such as a towering pampas toward the back center. Grasses of shorter heights and different textures should be added nearby, usually set 3 to 4 feet apart. Container grasses could be mixed with those planted in the ground, "and put unusual shapes and colors to complement your spot." For adding the occasional flourish of ornamental grass, McDaniel said look to existing beds for ideas.

"Maybe if you have some existing beds with some empty areas, tuck in some ornamental grasses in an area with compatible plant material, with contrasting leaf texture and color," McDaniel said.

A few ornamental grass types to get started include:

Purple fountain grass: A dark reddish purple smooth leaf plant with plume, which grows in both dwarf size (about 2 feet tall) and in regular size (a bit taller). It's not cold tolerant.

Northern sea oats: Very dark green with plumelike natural oats, which grow in large clumps about 3 feet tall with narrow stem.

Maiden grass: Variegated and green with one long, tapered, fairly smooth, narrow leaf and fine plume, 3 to 4 feet tall.

Pampas grass: Known for its huge 6-foot-plus height grown from clumps, but available in a smaller dwarf size.

Shenandoah: Flaunts dark red tips at the ends of its 3-foot-tall foliage.

Heavy metal: Soft steel-blue foliage that's heat tolerant. Stands 4 feet tall, with solid clumps nearly that wide at the base.

Bowles golden sedge: Likes more moisture than true grasses and a bit of late-afternoon shade to develop its best color. Good height for mixing with hostas, ferns and ladies' mantle at the edge of a shade bed. Two-foot-tall clumps virtually glitter when paired with more subdued foliage.

Golden Japanese forest grass: For golden color in shady spots only.

Island brocade sedge: One of the latest of grasses, with broad gold-banded leaves on ground-hugging plants, fairly tolerant of dry shade.

Many ornamental grasses grow well in half to full sun, and can range from 1 to more than 6 feet tall, Howton said.

Normally, they remain in clumps, "and you don't have a whole lot of problem with the grass taking over your yard," Howton said. "When you get a big clump, you can dig it up and separate it." The plants are also adaptable, working well in container or patio gardens, around a mailbox or in a larger space that needs, well, something, Howton said.

They'll last until late fall. In winter, the grasses do die back, but retain their shape, Howton said. During the drought in summer 2000, the plants died , but later returned. "They're not picky about anything," Howton said.

Howton mentioned a condominium owner who used the grasses to landscape a fairly low-maintenance area between his condo and the next.

"They're very interesting to look at," Howton said. "They have a lot of character when the wind blows, because you get a lot of movement from them. Plant them, water them, and they'll usually thrive," Howton said.

"They will go anywhere your imagination can put them."

(Leigh Anne Monitor of the Birmingham Post-Herald can be reached at lamonitor@postherald.com.)