Native Grass Garden

Boy in Native Grasses Garden

Did you know that grasses are actually flowering plants?  In the late summer, fall, and winter you will be able to see the seed heads where tiny flowers form on many grasses.  They are quite beautiful all year round! 

Have you considered adding grasses to your landscape?  The Native Grass Garden displays 10 types of grasses and one sedge (a related family) with signs identifying each type.  See what the grasses look like next to each other.  Examine them for differences in color, height, seed forms, and overall shape.  Leave the dry grasses standing all winter for their beauty and for wildlife cover and food.  Most native grasses need to be cut once a year to remove dry growth in late winter/early spring, before new greenery appears.

Most of these grasses do well in sunny areas.  Bottlebrush, Virginia wild rye and blue sedge do well in shade.  Splitbeard bluestem has especially showy seed heads in the fall and winter.  Try planting these or other grasses in clumps or drifts for a dramatic effect.  Blue sedge is a nice, low evergreen groundcover that can also be seen in our BayScape Garden.  Indian grass is very tall (up to 8 feet) and is perfect for a screening or background effect.  The seed heads for purple lovegrass are soft and fluffy.  Switchgrass is very versatile and thrives under many conditions, wet or dry, sun or partial shade. 

This garden helps viewers appreciate the year-round interest and benefits of native grasses.  Native grasses are a great alternative to the alien exotic ornamental grasses that have been popular of late.  These grasses won't spread to natural areas and become invasive. 

Thistle A. Cone designed the garden.  Anne Arundel County Master Gardeners and volunteer members and friends of the CEC installed the garden.

 

Pictures:

Click on the thumbnail image below for a larger picture and description

      

 

Size: 528 square feet

Plant List:

• Blue Sedge (Carex glaucodea)
• Purple Lovegrass
  (Eragrostis spectabilis)
• Little Blue Stem (Schizachyrium scoparium)               
• Broomsedge (Andropogon virginicus)
• Splitbeard Bluestem (Andropogon ternaries)
• Virginia Wild Rye (Elymus virginicus)
• Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)                    
• Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans)   
• Purpletop (Tridens flavus)     
• Bottlebrush (Elymus hystrix)
• River Oats (Chasmanthium latifolium)