Early settlers in Illinois wrote of the grasses that swept the plains as far as they could see. The prairies that covered much of the Chicago area were filled with the stately, waving, shimmering plants.
In the intervening 160-odd years, grass has taken on a different role in the urban-suburban landscape, becoming a tightly controlled surface used as an outdoor carpet. To let it get taller than 3 inches is heresy.
Perhaps as an outgrowth of the rekindled interest in prairies and the species that grew there, native and ornamental grasses are being planted in more and more landscapes, whether to achieve that long-ago look or to create a unique landscape element.
These grasses are cut once a year, in March or early April, then allowed to flourish into stately plantings that may form 6-inch clumps or reach 8 to 10 feet in height and as big around, with straplike grass ”blades” and flower heads that may stand erect or arch toward the ground. Once dried, these stalks can be cut for indoor arrangements. If left in the landscape, the entire plant creates an interesting accent in winter, giving grasses a different, attractive role in all four seasons.
”Grasses have lot to offer, but most people don`t know them well enough, so they don`t use them,” says Anthony Tyznik, the noted landscape architect at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle. ”I use some in almost every one of my designs.
”I think we often overdo greenery (such as evergreens) around our homes to the point where they look like funeral parlors with these heavy plantings. We can use grasses to soften the lines.”
Tyznik finds a restful, calming effect in tall grasses that sway gracefully in the breeze. They can be planted near a wall or a corner of a structure to provide a rounded clump element to the straight lines of a home. ”I like to use them in combination with shrub plantings, where the bed points into an open area and they can act as a focus point,” Tyznik says. ”I also use them in perennial borders both as an accent or by themselves.”
Horticulturist and author Peter Loewer doesn`t integrate his ornamental grasses, preferring to mass them together. His perennial grass garden uses 15 species or cultivars in a 10- by 20-foot plot. He integrates more than 20 varieties of annuals into his flowerbeds to harvest the seedheads for dried bouquets. The grasses are one of the 12 theme gardens Loewer combined for his book ”Gardens by Design” (Rodale Press, Emmaus, Pa., $19.95).
The term ”ornamental” can be spread to a diverse number of species in the family Gramineae, both annual and perennial. Natives and prairie grasses can be used as ornamental plantings in a managed landscape. What most consider ornamental grasses are those from Asia or Europe.
Many ornamentals require full sun. Reed-type grasses thrive in marshy areas and can become invasive, while other ornamentals tolerate shade. Tyznik says he uses ferns with those species to complement a groundcover scheme, so selection according to where the grass will be used is an important consideration.
Outside of those that need constant moisture, most ornamentals don`t require special soil preparation, says Roy Diblik of The Natural Garden nursery in St. Charles. Once established, perennial grasses need little maintenance other than spring clean-up and some weeding in summer.
While most grasses are grown for their attractive foliage, one grass even smells good. ”Northern or prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis) is very ornamental and smells like buttered popcorn when you brush up against it,”
Diblik says. ”It`s not familiar enough to most people to use yet.” The plant grows 2 feet tall with fine, delicate foliage and blooms in late July or August, Diblik says.
Diblik mentions several other perennials that do well in the Chicago area:
— Little Bluestem (Andropogon scoparius) is a native prairie grass with brilliant coppery fall color and bluish stems, a clump type that gets 1 to 2 feet tall. Taller effects can be achieved with Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardi).
— Calamagrostis arundinacea flowers in June and has a more vertical shape with gently arching foliage. It reaches 4 feet in height.
— Maiden grass (Miscanthus sinensis `Gracillimus`) reaches 5 to 6 feet, but its coppery flowers don`t appear until October. Its long stems make the flowers good for drying, and the plants provide good winter effect. Other good species of Miscanthus, according to Loewer, are zebra grass (M. sinensis
`Zebrinus`) and striped eulalia grass (M. sinensis `Variegatus`).
— Blue oat grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens) has silvery blue foliage, which it maintains during the winter. It grows 2 1/2 feet high. ”I`ve never seen it in bloom,” Diblik says. It is similar to Blue Fescue (Festuca ovina var. glauca) but Blue Fescue needs well-drained soil or it will rot, while blue oat grass just needs good garden soil, Diblik says.
— Pennisetums, foremost among them fountain grass (P. alopecuroides), are another good choice. Fountain grass forms a wide clump, is 1/2 to 3 feet tall, flowers in August, looks like a fluffy foxtail and arches in all directions. It has light green foliage and is a good dried flower, but its stems are short.
— Ravenna grass (Erianthus ravennae) is similar to pampas grass but will survive our winters if they aren`t like the one a year ago, when waterlogged soil froze by early December. Pampas grass, one of the most frequently advertised grasses in some mail-order catalogues, won`t survive our winters dependably.
Diblik has reservations about two other species in the home landscape because of their tendency to spread beyond their allotted space.
— Reed canary grass (Pholaris picta) likes moist, wet areas, but it
”will conquer the world. It`s nearly impossible to get rid of,” Diblik says. The variegated cultivar is good for a massing effect.
— Cord grass (Spartina pectinata) is another moisture lover but spreads by underground runners, or rhizomes, so it can take over the whole yard. It should be massed in an area at least 10 by 10 feet. It stands 6 feet tall and arches in one direction, looking like it was combed, Diblik says.
SOURCES
Ornamental grasses are available from some nurseries in the Chicago area. One local source is The Natural Garden, 38W443 Ill. Hwy. 64 (North Avenue), St. Charles; 584-0150.
Sources for mail-order plants include:
Kurt Bluemel Inc., 2543 Hess Rd., Fallston, Md. 21047. Catalogue $1. Fifty varieties of grasses.
Wayside Gardens, Hodges, S.C. 29695.
Andre Viette Farm & Nursery, Rt. 1, Box 16, Fishersville, Va. 22939.
Seed sources include:
Maver Nursery, Rt. 2, Box 265B, Asheville, N.C. 28805. Price list $1.
Park Seed Co., Greenwood, S.C. 29647.
DiGiorgi Co., Council Bluffs, Ia. 51502.
