Plants of the background - this is how you can call ornamental grasses without hesitation. The flowerbed looks fuller and more effective if we add a background to perennials and summer flowers in the form of perhaps a bit more modest but elegant neighbors. Ornamental grasses - annual and perennial, which at any time of the year delight with their delicate stalk habit, exquisitely shaped inflorescences, and unusual colors - have long been included among the most beautiful plants complementing the arrangement of the bed.
Blue grassesSteel-blue grasses are perfect plants for summer heat and drought. Their color reflects the sun's rays like a protective screen, which prevents the blades from overheating.As hard as steel, and at the same time delicate are the leaves of the blue common wheat, Festuca ovina sheep's fescue, Koeleria glauca and the evergreen oat Helictotrichon sempervirens. The white flowers of Achillea yarrow, Salvia nemorosa 'Adrian' and Origanum 'Alba' are particularly distinguished among the slender blades of grass. Strong contrasts conjure up grasses together with red-flowered plants, such as the autumn-blooming sedum plant Sedum telephium. We will obtain more avant-garde compositions by combining gravelly blue grass on the bed with a very attractive Allium decorative garlic, Nepeta catnip and Oenothera's evening primrose.
Grass blades like jewelsIn the rays of the sun, the ears of many grasses shimmer with silvery-white shades, like precious jewels, emphasizing the beauty of large flowers of dahlias, rudbeckia and a beadwork. The most decorative grasses include Hordeum jubatum barley, Pennisetum and Lagurus ovatus, as well as Achnatherum and feathered Stipa pennata.Grasses masterfully mastered the art of creating delicate, intricate, like jewelery gems. Not only their narrow, slender blades contrast beautifully with the often large leaves of blooming neighbors. It is hard not to be delighted with the delicate, almost fragile beauty of paniculate or spiked millet Panicum virgatum and Chinese miscanthus Miscanthus sinensis. Like little lightning bolts on the sunlit flowerbed between the red flowers of Monarda, Echinacea and Polygonum bistorta, on the edge of a garden pond they accompany the lofty clumps of Hemerocallis daylilies. And when a slight breeze blows, they swing back and forth gracefully with a gentle rustle.
Caring for ornamental grassesPerennial grasses also decorate the garden in winter. The blades and ears of corn, covered with a thin layer of frost, look particularly picturesque. For such pictures, it is worth not to hurry in autumn with cutting dry clumps of grass. We can successfully wait until early spring with this.Most of the grasses can be planted both in the fall and in the spring. However, tall species, such as Chinese miscanthus or rotisserie millet, are best suited to the rebate if planted in spring. Runner-up species in bedding are quite troublesome, as they grow widely and quickly. So let's plant them in deep bottomless containers.
