Six Stunner Grasses for Making Mid-South Gardening Great Again.
Pictured here: Germantown TN Lawn to Meadowscape. The design incorporates Carex plus the following grasses: Bouteloua curtipendula, Eragrostis spectabilis, Schizachyrium scoparium, and Sporobolus heterolepis.
GRASSES?
Applause to the few around the Memphis area and Mid-South who are slowly incorporating more ornamental grasses from our region into their landscape around town! Today, we’re talking grasses and I am beyond stoked. I love designing with grasses and working them into lawn and garden spaces. They help to provide movement, texture, and year-round interest. So without further ado, here are my Six Stunner Grasses for Making Mid-South Gardening Great Again!
1) Andropogon ternarius - seriously it is Feb 28 and this one is still putting on the main event. What!?! Pictures do not do this grass justice, I almost hesitate to even mention it. Be the first on your block to plant this grass in your yard already(!!!)! If you want to go further down this grass rabbit hole, do yourself a favor and investigate a somewhat harder-to-find cultivar called ‘Black Mountain’. It was selected from seed by Terry Dalton, curator of the North Carolina Arboretum and it’s stunning. This is a medium-height grass featuring gorgeous summer foliage with inflorescences that positively glow and shimmer as the sunlight catches them. Although it could be a backdrop plant for all of your favorite perennials, I recommend putting this grass front and center stage. Andropogon ternarius, you are so beautiful that my heart explodes. (common name: “Splitbeard Bluestem”)
2) Eragrostis spectabilis - this shorty is the true Lavender Haze, the popstar for the eras. I’m currently designing a front yard meadowscape in Germantown, TN full of this powerhouse grass. We killed off the existing sod grass and are incorporating this grass as part of a new meadow design for the front yard lawn. Polite and quiet over winter, she averages about a foot in height in our warmer months. The blooms appear as cotton candy that fade to white late season. Looks great against shorter perennials such as Mondarda bradburiana and paired with other grasses. (Common name: “Purple Love Grass”)
3) Bouteloua curtipendula - Sideoats Grama! It handles our Memphis-area conditions in a way that other Boutelouas (Blue Grama, Buffalo Grass) can’t. Pairs well with other types of native grasses and perennials. Beautiful in bloom with reddish-orange flowers that give way to enchanting seedheads that sway with the breeze. Short to medium height and as useful to wildlife as it is ornamental, Sideoats pairs well with so many perennials. Why this grass isn’t being pursued more here around Memphis is blowing my mind. (Common name: “Sideoats Grama”)
4) Schizachyrium scoparium - Little bluestem, whether planted out in giant masses or as structural garden elements, puts on a show from Spring through Winter. In late spring and early summer, go for a hike and look for blankets of bluish-green tone variation found in the straight species. Check out a new cultivar ‘Little Red Fox’ selected by Brent Horvath at Intrinsic Perennial Gardens - it’s shorter, upright, and emphasizes reddish tones. Tip for use: A gardener I consulted in Memphis said this grass did poorly for her. She lamented its small size and that it seemed dead. I feel like she didn’t believe me when I told her she needed to punish this grass. She had babied it, had it in a heavily amended, nutrient-rich garden bed in semi-shade. This warm season clumping grass won’t look like much at all during cool spring months, but as our temps rise and the Mid-South heat sets in, it develops its new growth. It likes to keep its feet dry in winter - don’t you!? (Common name: “Little Bluestem”)
5) Sporobolus heterolepis - Lurie Garden designer Piet Oudolf, with a grin - once referred to Sporobolus as being “wilder than the wild itself”. Fine textured, airy, hazy panicles that are gorgeous when she blooms. Mounding spring green turns to beautiful golds and oranges by fall. These can be difficult to get started here and are slow growers; we recommend starting with healthy plugs from reputable sources. Looks so good when intermingled with perennial plants. A smaller, shorter height cultivar is available called ‘Tara’ - selected by Roy Diblik of Northwind Perennial Farms. You can see her in all her glory over at the Memphis Botanic Garden’s new meadows which were installed last year. (Common name: “Prairie Dropseed”)
6) Panicum virgatum- These tend to be waist-high to head-high grasses, often featuring streaks of orange and red in the foliage, something akin to flames. Beautiful clouds of seed heads when in bloom, Panicum look great planted in mass groupings and tend to maintain a nice vertical shape over fall and winter. Fuss-free and looks great with taller perennials, coneflowers, amonsonia, and more. Two cultivars I’d recommend looking up are ‘Northwind’ (Diblik) and ‘Purple Tears’ (Oudolf). Common name: “Switchgrass”
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Are you or someone you love struggling with chopping down ornamental grasses way too early every year? We’ve set up a safe space to help you through the winter. Drop me a line and repeat after me - No haircuts until early Spring!
Shown here: Panicum virgatum display flame-like foliage and gorgeous seedheads.
Shown here: Schizachyrium scoparium surrounded in Eragrostis spectabilis.
Shown here: A mixture of Carex and Bouteloua curtipendula with the petite purple blooms of Liatris microcephala.
Photo here: By not touching until early Spring, we can enjoy their structure, movement in the wind, and the wildlife such as birds who hang out around these grasses all Winter long.