Ornamental grasses with autumn colour

Blue grama

Bouteloua gracilis 45 cm × 45 cm after 10 years

Blue grama is a low, fine-leaved prairie grass: above its green to blue-grey tuft it carries, in summer, curious comb- or eyelash-like flower spikes…

Chinese silver grass

Miscanthus sinensis 1.8 m × 1.2 m after 10 years

A large, clump-forming, arching ornamental grass sold in a great many cultivars: the dwarfs (such as 'Yakushima Dwarf', 'Adagio', 'Kleine Fontäne')…

Feather reed grass

Calamagrostis × acutiflora 1.5 m × 60 cm after 10 years

A narrow, strictly upright ornamental grass that flowers as early as the start of summer and keeps its straw-coloured stems standing all winter, so it…

Feather reed grass 'Karl Foerster'

Calamagrostis × acutiflora 'Karl Foerster' 1.5 m × 75 cm after 10 years

A strictly upright, narrow ornamental grass that flowers as early as the start of summer and keeps its straw-coloured stems standing all winter. It…

Fountain grass

Pennisetum alopecuroides 90 cm × 90 cm after 10 years

An ornamental grass forming a hemispherical, arching clump that carries soft bottlebrush plumes from late summer into autumn and turns golden yellow…

Hameln dwarf fountain grass

Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Hameln' 90 cm × 90 cm after 10 years

This compact ornamental grass works well in small groups, mixed perennial borders or a large container. Soft bottlebrush flower heads appear in late…

Japanese blood grass 'Red Baron'

Imperata cylindrica 'Red Baron' 60 cm × 1.2 m after 10 years

A low, upright grass whose leaves emerge green and turn red from the tip downwards, ending blood red by autumn. It looks best in groups with the light…

Japanese forest grass

Hakonechloa macra 45 cm × 60 cm after 10 years

A soft grass with arching, bamboo-like leaves that is happiest in part shade and shade, good under trees, along edges and in pots. It needs humus-rich…

Korean feather reed grass

Calamagrostis brachytricha 1.2 m × 80 cm after 10 years

An ornamental grass with an arching green clump that carries large, feathery pink-grey plumes in late summer, ripening to straw colour in autumn and…

Maiden grass 'Gracillimus'

Miscanthus sinensis 'Gracillimus' 2 m × 1.2 m after 10 years

Its narrow, arching leaves form a fountain-shaped clump that works well at the back of a border or as a standalone accent. Give it a sunny position,…

Mexican feather grass

Nassella tenuissima 60 cm × 60 cm after 10 years

Its hair-fine leaves and airy flower panicles soften perennial borders and work well in containers. Choose a sunny spot with excellent drainage,…

Oriental fountain grass

Pennisetum orientale 75 cm × 90 cm after 10 years

A low, loosely arching grass that carries soft, pinkish white bottlebrush plumes from early summer into autumn, much earlier than most fountain…

Prairie dropseed

Sporobolus heterolepis 80 cm × 75 cm after 10 years

Prairie dropseed is one of the finest North American prairie grasses: its hair-fine, glossy green leaves form a dense, arching mound, and in late…

Purple moor grass

Molinia caerulea 90 cm × 45 cm after 10 years

Purple moor grass makes a low, tidy clump from which slender stems with purplish flower panicles rise in midsummer, and in autumn the whole plant…

Ruby muhly

Muhlenbergia reverchonii 60 cm × 60 cm after 10 years

A clump-forming warm-season grass with hair-fine leaves that turns into a pink cloud of flowers in autumn and keeps a good shape through winter. It is…

Switchgrass

Panicum virgatum 1.8 m × 90 cm after 10 years

An upright, columnar ornamental grass that carries airy, cloud-like flower panicles from midsummer, turns golden yellow in autumn and stays standing…

Tall moor grass

Molinia arundinacea 2.2 m × 1 m after 10 years

From a low, arching mound of leaves it sends up thin, see-through flower stems to two metres or more in midsummer; they sway in the lightest breeze…