Showing posts with label miscanthus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label miscanthus. Show all posts

Monday, October 24, 2016

Favourite Ornamental Grasses: Part 1


I am a sucker for a clearance sale. 

Back in early July, I worked my way into a throng of bargain hunters encircling a big cart of closeout plants at my local Loblaw garden centre. The big attraction? The $1.99 price tag!

The selection of perennials on the clearance cart was telling. Almost everything was an ornamental grass of some kind. Why had spring shoppers passed on these plants?

I think the answer is simple: an ornamental grass in a small nursery pot is profoundly unsexy. Shoppers are more attracted to plants with blooms (even I fall pray to this). There is just one problem with a purchase based on this criteria. If you buy only nursery plants in bloom, your garden will be full of June flowers with little to provide interest come late summer and fall. 

Choosing plants based on bloom overlooks the hidden potential that ornamental grasses have in spades! In the golden light of mid to late August, the magic begins and continues well into winter.

Annual Fountain Grass in a Brampton Civic park.

Annual Fountain Grass in a Brampton Civic park.

Switch Grass, Panicum virgatum

Korean Feather Reed Grass, Calamagrostis brachytricha at the TBG.

A mix of perennials and grasses at the Toronto Botanical Garden.

Marion Jarvie's garden in Thornhill, Ontario.

Switch Grass, Panicum virgatum at the TBG.

Even into winter ornamental grasses have a haunting beauty.

Korean Feather Reed Grass, Calamagrostis brachytricha

An ornamental grass makes a neutral backdrop for Rudbeckia 
seed heads at the TBG. 


The other reason I think that grasses get left behind at the nursery, is that gardeners still have difficulty knowing how to use them. Ornamental grasses have really surged in popularity in recent years, but some of us still struggle to incorporate them in with other perennials (myself included).

I was looking through my library of pictures for this post, when I happened upon this garden. Seeing it again with fresh eyes (originally photographed it in 2014) I was reminded how cleverly this gardener used ornamental grasses. They are dotted in amongst the flowers all through the garden. Short grasses are down front, while taller grasses work like small shrubs.

See more of this garden here.

In June, the clumps of ornamental grasses are somewhat understated, but by late summer I bet they steal the show!

Rideau Woodland Ramble Nursery Display Garden

Punctuating a mixed flowerbed with grasses is just one way to go. Massing grasses together is yet another approach.

Two different varieties of Miscanthus grass at the Rideau 
Woodland Ramble Nursery Display Garden.

Large clumps of Miscanthus at the Terra Nursery Display Garden

Terra Nursery Display Garden

One final set of inspirations as to uses of ornamental grasses. Think of them as shrubs and mix them in with perennials, other shrubs and conifers. The result is very textural.

A variegated Miscanthus at the Lost Horizons Nursery Display Garden

A Miscanthus works like a shrub in the this corner planting.

Marion Jarvie's garden in Thornhill, Ontario.

Marion Jarvie's garden in Thornhill, Ontario.

In part 2, we'll take a closer look at some of my favourite ornamental grasses.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Late Bloomers & other treasures at Lost Horizons


Do you have a garden muse? 

I have several in the books that I like to flip through for inspiration, but I have to say that the ones that inspire me the most are the local gardens that I can actual go and visit. The pictures in a book are a delight to the eyes, but a garden speaks to the soul! 

The display garden at Lost Horizons Nursery is one such garden muse. Though I have been there many, many times I always discover something new along its rambling pathways; a new plant, a pretty plant combination or an interesting play of textures, shapes and colors. I always come away determined to do better in my own garden (and a little poorer having filled the trunk of my car with plant purchases!). 

Gathered here are some of the images from recent visits, with a focus on perennials that shine late in the gardening season.

The red flowering plant in the right, middle foreground is Mountain Fleeceflower, Persicaria 'Firetail' Height: 60-90 cm Spread 45 cm Care: Will grow in a variety of soils, full sun to part shade.


Miscanthus sinenis 'Variegatus' Height: 150-210 cm Spread 80-90 cm 
Care: Will grow in a variety of soils. Full sun.

Rudbeckia triloba 'Prairie Glow' This is a new selection with bi-color blooms. Height: 120 cm Spread: 60 cm Care: This is a short-lived perennial with a tendency to reseed. It is easy to grow in average, moist, well-drained soil. Full sun. 

Dogwood berries have been left for the squirrels and chipmunks that visit the garden. Cornelian Cherry Dogwood, Cornus mas Height 6-9 m. Care: Sun/part shade

Annual Poppy

Persicaria virginiana 'Lance Corporal' is a woodland plant with apple-green leaves. This plant has dark flower spikes with tiny red flowers that appear in late summer. Height: 40 cm 
Partial to full shade Spread: 30 cm 

 Acer campestre 'Carnival' is an award winning Hedge Maple with green leaves edged in white (on the right). Height: 3 m Spread: 2 m


The display garden has a variety of Phlox paniculata


This is a native variety of Cardinal Flower, Lobelia siphilitica. It has bright blue flowers in late summer that are a magnet for butterflies and hummingbirds. Height: 91 cm Spread: 61 cm Care: Full sun to part shade in average, moist or wet soil.

A pretty combination of colors and textures.



Cassia marilandica is a native plant found in moist areas. Yellow pea flowers are followed by these incredible seed pods. Height: 180 cm Spread: 120 cm 

Japanese Anenome

Salvia sclarea is a short-lived perennial that will self-seed around the garden. It has fuzzy leaves and soft cream and mauve flowers. Height: 100 cm Spread: 40 cm Care: Sun and gravelly soil.


Salvia koyamae is a little known Japanese species of salvia. It has heart-shaped leaves and soft buttery-yellow flowers in summer. This is a woodland plant that spreads by rhizomes. Height: 60 cm Spread: 40 cm Care: Part sun to shade.





I bought this woodland plant and promptly lost its plant tag. Can you I.D. it?
(Update: Thank you Janneke and Joy for the I.D. This is the Kirengeshoma palmata. Height 90-120 cm Spread: 75-90 cm Care: Likes moist soil.)


Corydalis ex.'Du Fu Temple' has sky blue flowers with a blush of mauve and blooms from spring into late fall. It will readily self-seed in the garden. Height: 30 cm Spread: 30 cm Care: Part sun to shade.


More Information and Links:


Lost Horizons Nursery has one of the most beautiful display gardens in Ontario. The nursery itself, offers over 3000 plants from around the world, many extremely rare. Visit the nursery's blog here.

To visit the Lost Horizons website click the link.
Lost Horizons Nursery and Display Gardens are located just west of Toronto on Highway 7, two miles west of the town of Acton, Ontario.

For complete driving directions click here.  In the off-season their hours are more limited. Right now, I believe they are Wed.-Sun. 10-5pm.