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 



African grasses

Fountain Grass, Pennisetum setaceum

Although there are many native grasses in East Africa they are seldom used in garden or landscape design. Some foreign grasses can sometimes be found in parks and gardens, but you still see even them rather rarely.

Here however the indigenous Pennisetum setaceum is used at the entrance to Mamba Village in Nairobi. Pennisetum setaceum is native to open, more or less dry habitats in eastern and central Africa, Middle East and further east, but is introduced to many other parts of the world and is now well spread in southern Europe, South Africa, southern North America, Hawaii and many other places. The Fountain Grass is a perennial plant but not very hardy, so in colder areas when it is grown as an ornamental bedding plant it is treated as an annual.

Rhynchelytrum, the Natal Grass or Champagne Grass grows here in a naturalistic, meadow style planting in a private garden in Karen in Nairobi 

Grass as a forage plant is more common...