Blades of glory: Alan Titchmarsh on filling the gaps with ornamental grasses
ORNAMENTAL grasses could transform your borders.
Gaps.
Beds and borders are often plagued by them at this time of the year and whenever I’m asked about weeds in borders my advice is always to plant more thickly – that way there is little room for weeds since the cultivated plants are taking up every bit of space.
Gaps do appear, though, and sometimes it is hard to work out what to fill them with. But there is a solution – ornamental grasses.
Unlike shrubs, which may ultimately become too large, or perennials, which may pose a colour problem, grasses are brilliant green “glue” that will add feathery substance to a border and make it look much more harmonious.
There are tall ones for the back of beds and borders, middle-sized ones for the centre and tiny shaving brush types for the front. Simply take your pick.
Over the years, most of them will thicken up but they are unlikely to become a real problem in the same way as their beefier relation, bamboo.
For the front of a border choose the blue-grey Festuca glauca in one of its several named forms.
It really does make 6in-high shaving brushes that contrast well with purple-leafed heuchara.
Most elegant of all is the 12-18in-high Stipa tenuissima, whose wands of flower are so feathery that they seem to float on the air.
They wave to and fro in the slightest breeze, rather like seaweed underwater.
Bowles’s golden grass – Milium effusum ‘Aureum’ – is acid yellow in colour and has the advantage of seeding itself around other plants.
I just love it for its brightness.
Further back in beds and borders, Molinia caerulea ‘Transparent’ makes a handsome, upright clump at 3-4ft-high with unbelievably delicate flowerheads that really are “transparent” in their density.
Summer gardening tips
And for eye-catching foliage, few grasses match Miscanthus sinensis ‘Zebrinus’ – another clump former whose coarsely textured leaves have a butter yellow horizontal stripe every few inches just to perk them – and you – up.
All these grasses are readily available in nurseries and garden centres, so don’t put up with bare patches that are simply waiting to be a home to weeds. Gap up now with grasses and you’ll very quickly see how they can glue your garden together.
Don’t miss Alan’s gardening column today and Tip Of The Day every weekday in the Daily Express. For more information on his range of gardening products, visit alantitchmarsh.com.