Beautiful ideas for landscaping with tall or short ornamental grasses that you can plant yourself! Creative gardening ideas!
Various grasses, stipa, heliotrochon, salvias, eryngiums and thymes
Hejka wszystkim. Podgladam was już jakiś rok ale ciagle brak mi było odwagi żeby coś napisać i się ujawnić. No ale wykońcu się przemoglam jakoś. Za sprawa ogrodowiska i chęci uplecenia świątecznego wianka wybrałam się na bronisze i tam spotkałam Panią ...
His radical planting is romantic, naturalistic and hugely influential, and is celebrated with a new RHS award
Planting in central circular beds include grasses Stipa gigantea and Panicum 'North Wind' with perennials such as purple sage, Echinacea 'Art's Pride', E. 'Sunrise', E. purpurea, Helenium 'Waldtraut' and Scabiosa columbaria ochroleuca. Broughton Buildi...
Hello everyone! This post is the second post in what I've decided will be a 3-post series. I would have had this one done sooner if I'd planned on doing that from the beginning, but, I tried to shove it all into two posts, and quickly realized I just had too many photos...and the post would have been ridiculously long...so, there you have it. On with the show! Starting where we left off, this pic is probably from June...things are starting to fill in nicely. After a few people commented on it, I realized I never actually listed the plants used for this project, let's rectify that now! Here we have one of my favorite new plants over the past few years, Anemanthele lessoniana, along with Libertia perigrans...which, I realized as soon as I planted them, were a bit too similar to be used right next to each other. The Libertia was an impulse buy, however...I've actually decided that although I like it in theory, it just doesn't work here. I think you need a large-ish patch of them to really make an impact. Two garden stalwarts, Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster' and Echinacea 'Magnus'. I sort of go back-and-forth on 'Karl Foerster', thinking I would love that space for a "more interesting" grass, but 'Karl Foerster' is so beautiful throughout the seasons, that just when I think I'll replace it, it looks so good, so "right" that I love it again. It's just so valuable at providing structure and contrast in my garden. Of course, Echinacea I just love beyond all reason, so I always have some...they are so perfect, elegant, honest. And of course, where Scott gardens, there will be Agastaches! In these front parking strips alone there are 4 different varieties of Agastche. Above we have both 'Golden Jubilee' and 'Purple Haze'. I just fell in love with this tiny groundcover last year, Acaena purpurea. Sadly, it wasn't super happy in my garden. I can't tell quite yet if it's where it's planted...or the dog pee. I'm leaning toward dog pee. Another Agastache, 'Blue Blazes'. I planted some of these in my back yard two years ago, and last summer I found out that they get WAY bigger than I thought. I forget, sometimes, that here in Portland, things just tend to get bigger than they are supposed to...like 20-30% bigger. I'm experimenting this year with aggressive cutting back on these, if they still swallow up their neighbors, I may have to move things around a bit. Here's a plant that was completely new for me last year, Eryngium yuccifolium, which has the awesome common name 'Rattlesnake Master'. I'd seen it in numerous Piet Oudolf plantings...and you know me, if Oudolf says jump, I say 'How high'! On the right is Molinia 'Skyracer', which I absolutely fell in love with after seeing it a few years earlier at Wind Dancer Garden in Salem. It looks humble here, but in mid-summer it erupts with tall, elegant stems of dark, almost-black blooms. Another grass I tried for the frist time, and fell in love with last summer, Muhlenbergia rigens, aka Deer Grass. I enjoyed the regular Knautia macedonica in the back yard so much last year, but really like having some variation in coloring when I comes to flowers...so was thrilled to find some 'Melton Pastels' last year. This is a crazy-tough plant and blooms forever. I'm hoping that with more sun in the strips, these won't get quite as tall as the ones in the back yard. Panicums just may be my favorite family of grasses, depending on the day you ask me. Tough, dependable, beautiful. This is a new variety I tried on a whim, 'Huron Solstice'. You can't tell in this picture, but as the year progresses, it becomes a riot of color. Another Panicum, with a habit as different from 'Huron Solstice' as you can imagine. While 'Huron Solstice' is more arching and fountain-like, 'Northwind' is strictly upright. If you are looking for an alternative to Calamagrostis, give this a try. Yet another Agastache, 'Desert Sunrise'. I love this particular Agastache...for its foliage as much as for its flowers. Another stunning grass, Schizachyrium 'Blue Heaven', which I absolutely adore. Lately, I don't seem to be able to have a garden without at least a few Sedums...here we have 'Matrona' and 'October Daphne'. As you can see, but the end of July, things had pretty much started to take shape. I can't take too much credit...things just seem to WANT to grow in Portlands mild weather. As usual, it helps that our spring lasts until July, so plants have a good, long time to settle in before the drought of summer sets in. Mid-July is such a great time here in Portland. It's usually not too hot yet, and everything is still fairly green and fresh. The days are long and the rest of summer stretches out before you. Of course, the flip side to summer in Portland is that the rain just STOPS. No rain for 3 or so months isn't exactly ideal for most plants. Luckily, the drip system we installed makes watering easy. Since these plants were all newly-planted, I watered fairly regularly until about the middle of July, then started to taper off, watering only when something looked stressed. Generally, I'd water once a week or so...and this coming year, I'll probably only have to water every other week...perhaps less. Planting tough, drought-tolerant plants definitely makes sense in a parking strip. Here is the Muhlenbergia rigens again, starting to bloom...I just love it! Tall grasses are irresistable to cats, I think they are channeling their inner lion, just waiting for the next gazelle. I'm still not used to how quickly plants grow here in the PNW. As summer wore on, Panicum 'Huron Solstice' started its show...merely a rehearsal for what was to come. If there is such a thing, I'd say my garden typically "peaks" in August. While, in my mind, August is still high summer, the light definitely starts to change now...with morning and evening light having a warmer, mellower tone. Even in these newly-planted parking strips, everything seemed to be rushing to bloom. Looking back at it, I can hardly believe that whole area was just lawn a few months ago! August also marks the point at which the warm-season grasses start blooming, here we have Panicum 'Northwind' And here are the impossibly delicate stems of Molinia 'Skyracer', which is almost impossible to do justice in a photograph. While obviously limited in size, at moments like this, the parking strip garden succeeded in my goal of creating a micro-meadow. Here, at the end of August, I'm going to wrap up this post, the next post will cover Autumn through spring, bringing us full-circle for the year on this project. BTW, happy first day of spring!
The site: A medieval nobleman's summer retreat, a palace in ruins, in the Piedmontese hills of northern Italy. The challenge: Create a modern garden to com
greencube's ornamental grass and perennial border Here in my own garden, I took time out on Friday evening after mowing the lawn to take some photos, the sun was low and the light was soft. The front window of the studio looks out onto this border. This is the border that sweeps around the drive now in its third year, the structural layer consists of Buxus cubes and Euphobia wulfennii with large swathes of Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster', Miscanthus sinensis 'Gracillimus' mixed with a tapestry of perennials and bulbs planted en-masse. Our soil is incredibly sandy and so drought tolerant plants are used but I do feed and mulch with mushroom and green compost with added fertiliser every year to give the plants their best shot. Here is Papaver 'Patsy's Plum' which I sowed from seed, now doing incredibly well. New in the border this year seems to be a favourite at Chelsea also. Its a new plant called Lysimachia atropurpurea 'Beaujolais' recommended by our herbaceous supplier, so I'm trialling it this year and testing its hardiness over winter ( if we have a winter). Here I have mixed Nepeta 'Walkers Low' with the Papaver and Alliums, its a bee hotspot. Alliums included are Allium 'Purple Sensation', Allium nigrum, Allium 'Globemaster', Allium 'Mount Everest', Allium christophii For additional texture, height, late summer flower and skeletal winter interest I've added Foeniculum. Foeniculum vulgare 'Giant Bronze'
Considered "the most influential garden designer of the past 25 years," Dutch plantsman Piet Oudolf has done for perennial gardening what artist Leonard Ko
Considered "the most influential garden designer of the past 25 years," Dutch plantsman Piet Oudolf has done for perennial gardening what artist Leonard Ko
Add romance and hazy color to your life–and create instant curb appeal–by planting perennials grasses in a front yard, alongside a path, or as a mini meado
The most amazing thing about the gardens designed by Piet Oudolf is that he uses plants, rather than a palette of oil paints, to create hazy swaths of dist
Ornamental grasses are one of the most useful types of plants you can use in your landscape designs; here are five ideas to get you started, plus lots of beautiful grasses to achieve your favorite look.
Every garden needs a mystery. Half-hidden at the top of a flight of stairs, Los Angeles-based Griffin Enright Architects designed planting beds to draw the
Just today I was able to go out into the garden and cut flowers for our dining table (photo above). It's comfort to my soul to be able to grow flowers for our own home.
How do you use roses in your garden? Do you have a traditional, formal rose garden bordered with low boxwood hedges? Or are they part of a mixed border where they jostle with perennials such…
Create stunning, easy care and long-lasting border combinations like this one. Inspired from prairie planting, this modern and natural planting combines the rich, cool purple flower spikes of ornamental Sage (Salvia) with the billowing blooms of Mexican Feather Grass (Stipa tenuissima), providing an attractive contrast and airiness to this border.
Wispy ornamental grasses are versatile plants that can provide four seasons of interest in any landscape.
Mexican feather grass looks like a hazy smudge of golden color in the distance, and who wouldn't want that as a backdrop in the garden? Like other grasses
Annual ryegrass is a valuable rapidly growing cover crop. It aids in breaking up hard soils, better allowing roots to absorb nitrogen. So what is perennial ryegrass used for? The information in this a
Considered "the most influential garden designer of the past 25 years," Dutch plantsman Piet Oudolf has done for perennial gardening what artist Leonard Ko
Die Längerkönner - Die einen fangen immer wieder von vorne an – die anderen pflanzen Stauden.
With this arrangement, you can look forward to a garden that's not only beautiful but also remarkably easy to maintain.
Our UK correspondent Kendra Wilson has a collector's eye for gardens. Crisscrossing the country with camera in hand, she visits English gardens both grand
Que faire au jardin en avril ? Faut-il commencer à préparer les semis d’été ? Que planter ? Que récolter ? Voici tout ce qu’il faut faire !
Ornamental grasses grow quickly and require very little maintenance. Many ornamental grasses that are commonly used in the landscape are hardy to zone 4 or below. Click the article that follows to lea
Known as Switchgrasses, Panicum species and cultivars are highly ornamental North American natives.They're low maintenance choices for today's landscapes.
Get personal instruction from an expert on perennial planting in this online course. Gain insight into the connections between perennials as wild plants and as garden plants.
Most gardeners are familiar with daylilies, peonies, hostas, and iris, but other perennials can add color and interest.
I think we are there. Peak pink perfection for the pink muhly grass, Muhlenbergia capillaris. This is how it really looks. Yes, it really is that pink. Full midday sun and breezy are not the usual …
In need of pampas grass landscaping ideas? We've got you covered! Use our tips for landscaping with ornamental grasses in fun and versatile ways.
English cottage gardens are a charming (and practical) jumble of flowers, herbs, and fruit trees. See 10 design ideas to create an English cottage garden, from the editors of Gardenista.
Discover diverse garden styles in North America, from formal and cottage gardens to xeriscapes and native plant landscapes. Find your inspiration today!
I've always wanted a beautiful garden. In my vision I'm about ten or fifteen years older, maybe some gray hair streaks here and there, and I'm in my garden pruning, potting, digging, and watering. While I love traveling and seeing new places, I'm much more of a homebody. So if we're not road-trippin
Thoughts about our garden. “We desire,” the Emporer dictated, “that in the garden there should be all kinds of plants.” Charlemagne the Great I do a lot of writing about gardens, but our own personal garden has never been the subject of this blog. Our garden is always a backdrop to my thinking about gardens and gardening—a sort of character in my story whose face is never revealed. There are many reasons for this: first, our garden is just in the process of being established; I’m a terrible photographer and our garden is surrounded on three sides by unattractive roads and on one side by our unattractive house; and mostly because the act of gardening feels profoundly personal to me. It was designed for us, for our own pleasure, so the idea of opening for public consumption is a bit terrifying to me. BEFORE: The garden area when we bought the house. But I love other blogs that openly share their own gardens. James Golden’s View from Federal Twist is a brilliant blog about two wonderful gardens. That James bears his own soul through the garden is a source of endless inspiration to me. I’m just not that brave. And Scott Weber’s Rhone Street Garden is another fantastic blog. Scott transforms his small garden into and endless expanse through the lens of his camera. Through his images, I see and enjoy Scott’s garden much in the way he probably does. Nasella tenuissima and Salvia 'Caradonna' So in homage to other bloggers who bravely open their own gardens to public scrutiny, I am adding a few images of our own “in-process” garden. This spring marks two full years since I began smothering a triangular wedge of lawn in our sunny side yard. This area was too small to be a usable lawn, and too close to the road to be an enjoyable outdoor use area, so it seemed like a practical area for a garden. The sipping terrace which my brother-in-law calls the "duck blind" in late summer The house we bought was a neglected mid-century ranch which we essentially gutted, so my wife and I have poured our resources and time into renovating the house room by room. The only way to afford the renovation was to do everything ourselves, so that has left little time and money for the garden. The assembly of plants—and assembly is a much more accurate term than design—is a result of what we could get cheaply, what we could divide, what was available, and what would survive the mid-summer heat and humidity. This approach is probably entirely familiar to most gardeners, yet entirely problematic from my point of view as a designer. The garden becomes a product of impulse purchases and ad hoc decisions, not careful planning. Kniphofia 'Salley's Comet' with Pleioblastus viridistriatus, Nepeta "Walker's Low' and Eschscholzia californica But I’ve decided to embrace this non-designed approach. Design has its limitations, too. Any designer who has ever installed a garden, walked away, and then visited that garden five years later learns that design is not a singular vision set to paper; design is a thousand of little decisions and actions made through the life of the garden. Iris 'Persian Berry', one of the most exquisite colors I've ever seen With no real design to speak of, the garden has only a sort of guiding philosophy: plant only that which gives us pleasure. To use an admittedly pretentious term, our garden is a sort of “pleasaunce” by default, an archaic term for pleasure-garden. The concept of a pleasure garden is a bit antiquated these days. We are now much more likely to call non-food bearing gardens ornamental gardens. But “ornamental” is such a poor descriptive phrase. Who picks plants like they would pick wallpaper? To match their exterior trim? The worst gardens are those that aim to be merely decorative. No, we pick plants to live with us because they give us pleasure. I was recently re-acquainted with the idea of pleasure gardens when I re-read one of my favorite garden books, Rose Standish Nichols’ English Pleasure Gardens. It is a book I often pick up, read a chapter, and then put it away for a while. This century-old book is a compelling story of the English garden as viewed through three centuries of garden history. Throughout the book, one theme keeps emerging throughout the millennia: gardens exist for our pleasure. Christopher Lloyd’s writings have also been an inspiration of late. Perhaps I’ve spent too many years designing gardens, too many years of balancing client’s desires with safe plant selections. I love the almost garish quality of Dixter’s Long Border. The way it thumbs its nose at “tasteful” gray, pink, and blue color harmonies. The way it mixes tropicals, shrubs, perennials into one boisterous expression. Like Dixter, I would love a garden dedicated to nothing but horticultural craftsmanship. ''Beware of harboring too many plants in your garden of which the adjectives graceful and charming perpetually spring to your besotted lips,'' Lloyd warns as he clutches a black-leafed Canna. I love that. Dixter’s great triumph (and perhaps its downfall) is that it employs every tool in the planter’s toolkit all at once. The result is a hot mess, but one of the purest expressions of horticultural exuberance I’ve ever known. And what a joy that is. Cotinus 'Royal Purple' center (coppiced yearly), Savlia sclarea, Miscanthus 'Morning Light' and Alliums Perhaps all gardening is an attempt to re-create Eden, but our garden has absolutely no paradisiacal qualities. As a result of its placement next to an ugly house and an ugly road, we’ve adopted a more postlapsarian style. In the border, we have an ecumenical selection of wetland plants, desert grasses, South African bulbs, native forbs, and color foliage shrubs. Anything goes as long as it goes. The other side of our yard, we are beginning another more restrained garden evocative of a woodland edge. But in the border, there is no room for restraint, only more and more plants. Nasella tenuissima, Salvia 'Caradonna' and Allium 'Purple Sensation' In this blog, I am often guilty of heaping too much meaning on gardens, burying a simple act under too many metaphors. Perhaps it is an effort to justify my own profession, to add more significance to my calling than actually exists. If a garden exists simply for our own pleasure, what then? Perhaps that is enough. All I know is that gardening is hard work that reveals many agonies and few ecstasies. So despite the garden’s many flaws and failings, when the afternoon sun hits a patch of Feather grass and silhouettes the violet stems of Salvia ‘Caradonna’, it is enough for me. For now, I am pleased. Phlomis tuberosa and Hibiscus 'Fantasia' The ever ubiquitious, but entirely useful Spiraea 'Goldflamme' with Zahara Zinnias Our native-ish garden, planted this srping.
Considered "the most influential garden designer of the past 25 years," Dutch plantsman Piet Oudolf has done for perennial gardening what artist Leonard Ko
Mexican feather grass looks like a hazy smudge of golden color in the distance, and who wouldn't want that as a backdrop in the garden? Like other grasses
