The ornamental grass Pennisetum impresses with its graceful shape and very attractive flower spikes. It harmonises with many garden styles and can be wonderfully arranged in the bed with a wide variety of flowering plants. You can find some design suggestions in this article.

Pennisetum does well both as a specimen plant and as a companion plant to flowers and other grasses

Experimenting with grasses

There are many possible uses of the picturesque overhanging lamp cleaner grass in the perennial border. With regard to the design, a quote from Karl Foerster, a well-known perennial breeder and philosopher, still applies today:

"The filigree grasses are like a harp, which form interesting contrasts with the more coarsely structured perennials, the timpani."

Which flowering plants go well with Pennisetum?

If you want to underline the effect of the flower spikes in autumn, you can surround the fountain pennise with other autumn flowers. For example, the following are well suited:

  • asters
  • autumn anemones.

However, if you want a bed that is adorned with attractive plants all year round, you should choose perennials that flower in the opposite direction. Good companions in this case are:

  • hybrid tea roses,
  • perennial poppy,
  • sedum,
  • Lavender,
  • Sage,
  • early blooming onion flowers.

What is the correct combination?

So that your bed doesn't look random and wildly thrown together, you should plant a few perennials several times. These so-called leading perennials determine the appearance of the planted area. The height of the plants should increase towards the back so that all the growths can be shown to their best advantage.

Supplement this with eye-catching individual perennials such as a lamp cleaner grass that is already growing extensively. This makes the flower bed look a little like a natural landscape, which is in line with the current garden trend.

Multifaceted play of colours

You can combine foliage and flowering plants in strongly contrasting colors to create an exciting yet harmonious combination. Alternatively, you can opt for similar leaf and flower colors.

When designing, please keep in mind that pennisetum has different stem and spike colors depending on the species. The lamp cleaning grass variety Hamelin forms brown-red false spikes and flowers with white panicles, while Moudry has lush green leaves with violet to almost black panicles.

tips

Perennial groups should always be planted in odd numbers. This looks visually more exciting than an even number of plants.

Category:

Herbs