Plant Inventory: Ornamental Grasses
| *SPOROBOLUS airoides. Provides one of the airiest displays of any grass, and while clichéd, particularly entrancing on misty/frosty mornings. 60cm. |
| S. heterolepis. From green tufts rise wiry stems bearing a mass of tiny bead like flowers. But it is their amazing scent of crushed leaf coriander pervading the air that will send you more than the humble visual impact of this plant. 45cm. |
| STIPA arundinacea. (Calamagrostis arundinacea) The evergreen clump of bronzed foliage will by mid July have erupted into a cascade of fine, brown-pink flower panicles, fading in turn to a mist of gold. Needs good soil to give of its best. 45cm. |
| S. calamagrostis. A graceful, arching grass whose light green flowers age to pale gold -buff, a colour kept through the autumn and early winter months to great effect. 1m. |
| S. gigantea. Like a giant Oat, whose flowers in some lights so shimmer with gold, might seem to be fed by some mysterious electricity supply. Divisions. 2m+. |
| S. gigantea ‘Gold Fontaene’. A German selection. Our parent plant performs well here normally producing an abundance of shimmering gold flower heads. For us, the foliage is noticeably compact. |
| S. ichu. (Jarava ichu) Persistent tight silvery plumes erupt for months over fine tufts. Like no other feather grass we know. Its hardiness may be questionable in very cold gardens so shelter/sun/drainage essential. 50cm. |
| S. tenuissima. Known affectionately here as Tina Turner Tenuissima! The soft green mound of fine foliage is covered in summer by a haze of pale straw coloured flowers. 45cm. |
Images at the top of the page are ©Gardens Illustrated / Sharon Pearson