ornamental grasses

Ornamental Grasses: Plumage and Fall Color

Ornamental Grasses: Plumage and Fall Color

Ornamental grasses provide many desirable qualities to our home landscapes and containers, especially in the fall season.  They add wonderful texture, color and structure, and when the breeze blows they also add motion and sound to any garden.  There are essentially two types...

Fountain Grasses - Late blooming accents in the garden

Fountain Grasses - Late blooming accents in the garden

I have written many times about the attributes of ornamental grasses in our landscapes… Their unique texture contrasts nicely against the coarser foliage of both broadleaf evergreen and deciduous shrubs.  Depending on the variety, they can function either as…

Snippin' And Clippin'

Snippin' And Clippin'

If your garden is anything like mine, then you are probably busy watering, staking, checking for bugs and diseases, harvesting veggies and fruits and bouquets of flowers, and planting - at least those are the things that we all should be doing in August if we want to call ourselves gardeners.  I don’t think anyone ever manages to accomplish all the gardening chores they set out to do, but we should at least give it the old college try.  Just for fun, here are some of the things I have been doing in my garden…

Fall - The Second Planting Season

Fall - The Second Planting Season

Let me get straight to the point. Fall is an excellent time of the year for planting trees and shrubs, as well as continuing to introduce annuals, perennials, and ornamental grasses to our gardens. It’s a fact…

Gardening With Ornamental Grasses

Gardening With Ornamental Grasses

Ornamental grasses are an interesting class of perennials.  They have some unique qualities that make them an essential part of my borders, as they should yours.  Unfortunately, many gardeners still see them as weeds that either need to be sprayed with Roundup or trimmed with the Weed-Eater.  This column will hopefully find some converts…