Ornamental grasses easily mix with perennials, shrubs

Karl Foerster feather reed grass, one of the most popular ornamental grasses, is a familiar sight here in the Midwest. It's used extensively, both in home gardens and in commercial landscapes. No wonder: The vertical shape of this 5-foot-tall clump-grower makes it easy to integrate with perennials and shrubs. Gardeners also have learned they can count on this grass to remain attractive and upright throughout the winter.

Avalanche, a variegated, slightly-shorter feather reed grass with a wide white center stripe on each leaf, is also gaining in popularity.

Less well known is a close relative, fall-blooming feather reed grass, sometimes called Korean feather reed grass. Unlike Karl Foerster and Avalanche, which bloom in early summer, the fall-blooming species waits until September to send up its fine-textured, purple-red flowers that gradually fade to silver-gray.

Fall-blooming feather reed grass, topping out less than 4 feet tall in bloom, is shorter than Karl Foerster. It also has a more relaxed, arching form.

If you have a lot of shade, the fall-blooming species may be a better bet. My plant thrives with just two hours of sunlight per day.

Another grass you can grow in the shade is tufted hair grass, though flowering is heavier in full sun. Its long-lasting flower panicles age to a light golden color in autumn, shining in the morning dew.

Forming a neat, tufted clump only about 2 feet tall, tufted hair grass combines well with most perennials. This grass needs a few years to reach its full beauty, as does blue oat grass, another short and spiky grass also especially beautiful backlit by the autumn sun.

Many native prairie grasses are good candidates for sunny gardens, showing off best in autumn. One of my favorites is switchgrass. I love its fine-textured leaves and large airy spikes of flowers that appear in fall.

If switchgrass has a fault, it's that it tends to lean on its neighbors. That's fine in a prairie, but it can be a pain in the garden. I sometimes have to prop up switchgrass to keep it from smothering nearby plants or blocking a path.

If I were starting over, I'd buy a newer switchgrass called Northwind, selected at Northwind Perennial Farm for its tendency to stand up straight.

Rick Darke, ornamental grass guru and author of the "Timber Press Pocket Guide to Ornamental Grasses," says Northwind is also one of the most drought-tolerant varieties, thanks to thicker, heavier leaves that resist rolling in dry periods.