Ornamental grasses for a perennial border, for edging or planted on their own. The cards show the size after ten years.
38 plants from our verified database, by name. A plant is only listed when the data this list relies on is not in doubt. How our data is made
Festuca mairei 80 cm × 90 cm after 10 years
A giant among fescues: its narrow grey-green leaves form an arching, fountain-like tussock 60 to 80 cm high that stays green in winter, with slender…
Sesleria autumnalis 45 cm × 40 cm after 10 years
Autumn moor grass is a low ornamental grass that forms dense, arching tussocks of lime-green foliage which largely persists through winter, with…
Festuca gautieri 20 cm × 30 cm after 10 years
Bearskin fescue makes dense, bright green cushions of needle-fine, prickly leaves that stay green all winter, which suits it to rock gardens, gravel…
Ophiopogon planiscapus 20 cm × 30 cm after 10 years
Black mondo grass is sold almost only in its black-leaved form: low, grass-like evergreen tufts that stay nearly black all year, so it looks best…
Festuca glauca 30 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A low, dome-shaped grass with needle-like blue-grey leaves for sunny, dry beds, rock gardens, edging and pots. The blue is strongest in full sun and…
Koeleria glauca 40 cm × 30 cm after 10 years
A small, hedgehog-like tussock of steel-blue blades that is native to the dry, lime-rich sand grasslands of the region, so it is happiest in full…
Helictotrichon sempervirens 90 cm × 75 cm after 10 years
An ornamental grass that forms a steel-blue, porcupine-like dome which keeps its leaves through winter, with tall arching flower stems that ripen to…
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')…
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…
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…
Fargesia nitida 3 m × 1.5 m after 10 years
A clump-forming bamboo: unlike running bamboos it does not send out far-reaching rhizomes, the clump only thickens slowly, so you can plant it without…
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…
Stipa gigantea 2 m × 1 m after 10 years
From a low tussock of grey-green leaves it sends up stems to two metres in early summer, carrying oat-like panicles that open purplish and ripen to…
Carex flacca 30 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A low evergreen sedge with blue-green leaves that are glaucous beneath, slowly knitting into a dense carpet by short rhizomes. It is very adaptable:…
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…
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…
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…
Carex oshimensis 45 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A low evergreen sedge with arching leaves, sold almost only in yellow or cream striped forms. It suits the edge of a part-shaded bed, the ground under…
Acorus gramineus 30 cm × 30 cm after 10 years
A low evergreen perennial that looks like a grass but is not one: its fan-shaped tufts of narrow, glossy leaves are decorative all year, and the…
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…
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,…
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,…
Carex morrowii 40 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
An evergreen sedge that forms dense, arching, grass-like clumps, grown mostly as cultivars with white or cream leaf margins. Use it under trees and…
Carex comans 40 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A fine, hair-like evergreen sedge that forms an arching mop of silvery green or bronze leaves, depending on the form. It looks best in pots, along…
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…
Carex muskingumensis 75 cm × 75 cm after 10 years
An unusual-looking sedge: the narrow, light green leaves stand in whorls along stiff, upright stems like the fronds of a tiny palm or papyrus, so it…
Cortaderia selloana 2.5 m × 1.8 m after 10 years
A huge, dense clump-forming grass with silvery-white feathery plumes from late summer, best as a single specimen in a roomy, sunny spot. It needs a…
Muhlenbergia capillaris 90 cm × 90 cm after 10 years
A clump-forming grass with fine, thread-like leaves that turns into a pink cloud of flowers in autumn, at its best planted in groups. It wants full…
Eragrostis spectabilis 60 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
Purple love grass is a low warm-season grass: in late summer a reddish-purple haze of flowers floats above the green tuft of leaves, fading to brown…
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…
Briza media 70 cm × 40 cm after 10 years
Quaking grass is a low, loosely tufted meadow grass whose heart-shaped spikelets dangle on hair-thin stalks in early summer and tremble in the…
Fargesia robusta 3.5 m × 1.5 m after 10 years
A clump-forming bamboo that does not run: the clump only thickens slowly and stays where you plant it, so it needs no rhizome barrier. It is one of…
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…
Fargesia rufa 2.5 m × 2 m after 10 years
A clump-forming bamboo that does not run, so you can plant it without a root barrier: the clump widens slowly but never wanders through the garden. It…
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…
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…
Festuca amethystina 45 cm × 30 cm after 10 years
Tufted fescue is a fine, hair-leaved, blue-green grass tuft topped in early summer by airy flower heads on violet stems. It belongs in a sunny edging,…
Deschampsia cespitosa 1 m × 60 cm after 10 years
Tufted hair grass forms a dense dark green tussock topped in summer by airy clouds of golden and silvery flower panicles that stay decorative into…
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