Ornamental grasses are often cultivated by amateur gardeners. In combination with flowering plants, they are the eye-catcher in every garden. The hardy ornamental grasses begin to sprout again in spring. Other grasses do not bud until summer.

Early ornamental grass varieties sprout in early spring

Early and late ornamental grasses

If you include ornamental grasses in your garden planning, you have to decide between tall and low grasses and choose varieties for sun and shade. All of these types of grass have different times for new growth.

The early grasses

These are low-growing grasses. They also keep their color in winter and bring brown, red or green and blue splashes of color to the wintry garden.
These early grass varieties have special characteristics that set them apart from late ornamental grasses:

  • They are evergreen.
  • They prefer shady locations.
  • Low temperatures do not negatively affect their growth.
  • They develop new shoots in early spring.
  • Already in spring they unfold their flowers.
  • The dormant phase begins in the summer months.

Various varieties of early ornamental grasses

There are many varieties of early grasses that differ in growth and appearance.

Some examples:

  • The white-edged Japanese sedge, white-green striped leaves, grows up to 40 cm high
  • The Goldrimmed Japan Sedge, yellow-green foliage
  • The giant sedge, 50 cm long leaves, 120 cm high inflorescences
  • The blue-ray oat, 40 cm high, develops flowering fescues up to one meter high
  • The bearskin fescue, 15 cm high, ground cover

The late ornamental grasses

These only begin to sprout when the temperatures rise. In May they develop their first shoots. Due to the late growth, the flowers are only formed in late summer.
The late ornamental grass varieties also have their unmistakable characteristics:

  • They come in a wide variety of colors.
  • They have a striking fall coloration.
  • They keep their dead leaves in winter as a natural protection against the cold.
  • They are only cut in the spring.

Different varieties of the late grasses

The late grasses are also represented with different varieties, whereby the Chinese reed has a particularly large variety of species.

Some examples:

  • The Chinese reed with the varieties Nippon (copper-colored), Silberfeder (golden yellow), Malepartus (reddish brown), Ghana (dark red)
  • Switchgrass Heavy Metal with a light yellow colour
  • The red-ray bush with red leaf tips and reddish-brown coloring in September
  • The Japanese blood grass with red leaf tips
  • Pennisetum and purple moor grass turn bright yellow in autumn

Category:

Indoor plants