How to Choose Ornamental Grasses

Ornamental grasses are popular landscaping plants because they are colorful, easy to maintain, and provide year round interest.  These grasses come in many different varieties and strains.  There are two subdivisions of grasses, summer and winter season grasses.  Choose a combination to create an inviting landscape all year long.

• Perform an Internet search for ornamental grasses to explore the varieties available.  Research books and magazines with information about how to combine ornamental grasses with other plants in your landscape.


• Choose several warm season grasses by looking at the particular growing season for the grass.  Warm weather grasses begin growing quickly in later spring and continue to grow well into the summer months.  Warmer weather grasses consist of popular varieties such switch grass, northern sea oats, fountain grass, and pampas grass.


• Select cold season grasses that grow in late winter and early spring.  Some cool season grasses are hardy enough to stay green or hold their color even in mild autumn and throughout winter. Cold season grasses begin to grow in early spring, but can grow in the fall. Popular cool season grasses include blue oat grass, fescues, and autumn moore grass. 


• Use a little bit of fertilizer to feed your ornamental grasses, but never fertilize grasses too much.  Too much fertilizer makes the grass grow too quickly which makes the grasses appear and the shoots will be unable to stand up.


• Cut down dead growth in early spring to promote new growth.  Ornamental grasses, like ordinary lawn grass is a perennial meaning that it comes back year after year.


• Select ornamental grasses based on the zone hardiness map.  This map indicates the names of zones from one to ten, with zone one as the coldest climate and zone ten as the warmest.