Grasses shines in autumn and winter

Molinia arundinacea 'Cordoba' in the citypark of Laholm in November

Autumn is the time when grasses step up and outshines all withered perennials and former blooming companions in the border. Whenever you place a plant in the garden, you should always think about how the sunlight wanders around during the day. Almost all plants are most beautiful when they get the sun's rays from behind, but the grasses shines more than any others when backlit.

Plant thus the ornamental grasses where you can see them illuminated from the place where you usually find yourself in the garden, for example from your patio.

Here are some good grasses for autumn color, but there are plenty of others too. The Tussock grass, Deschampsia cespitosa, is one of the best grasses to capture the sun's glowing rays; however this grass needs heavy soils with a good water storage capacity to survive more than some few years.

Molinia arundinacea can withstand drought better, but prefers moist soils. Andropogon gerardii and Schizachyrium are drought specialists and can handle very difficult situations without any rain if they are well established.

Molinia arundinacea in Sichtungsgarten Weihenstephan, Germany

Deschampsia cespitosa in München in October

Little Bluestem, Schzachyrium scoparium, in Lahom, Sweden, in late November 

Little Bluestem backlit in November, Laholm Citypark

Big Bluestem, Andropogon gerardii, Westpark, München, Germany

Big Bluestem in Sichtungsgarten Herrmannshof, Weinheim, in early October

Switch Grass, Panicum virgatum, in Laholm in late November 

Miscanthus sinensis 'Purpurascens' in Westpark in München 



The woodland is turning color

The woodland in Laholm is now changing from dull green to bright fall colors and most trees and shrubs are turning yellow, red and orange. Even the perennials want to join the color parade. The Foam flowers, Tiarella, goes brownish orange and so does the Gillenia, while the Geranium maculatum 'Vickie Lynn' turns more bright orange red.

Nyssa sylvatica, the Tulepo tree

At the moment one small Tulepo tree, Nyssa sylvatica, is glowing clear red while others just started to convert. The Honey locusts, Gleditsia triacanthos, have already dropped most of their bright yellow leaves and the Red maples, Acer rubrum, are only in the early stage of the color explosion.

The woodland in Laholm was planted in 2008 and is a part of the city park under development. New exciting departments are added constantly, now latest an amazing spring bulb planting and next spring we are creating a European meadow with both acid and more calcareous habitats with a huge diversity of meadow plants.

Tiarella, Gillenia and Acer rubrum

Acer rubrum 'Scanlon' just outside the woodland