Ornamental Grasses for Small and Large Gardens

You don’t need a lot of space to grow ornamental grasses. These beauties can provide vertical interest with a very small footprint in your garden or even a container.

Consider some of the more narrow, upright varieties if space is limited.  Northwind switchgrass grows 4 to 6 feet tall, but only 2 to 3 feet wide. Its shorter cousin Shenandoah is only 4 feet tall and 18” wide.

Karl Forester feather reed grass is stiffly upright, growing 3 to 5 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet wide. Add a bit of color with Porcupine grass.  The yellow horizontal striped foliage is topped by coppery tan flowers in the fall.

Our native little bluestem provides year round beauty. Look for cultivars like Jazz that grows 2 to 3 feet tall and the bit taller Blue Heaven, both bred for more upright growth habit and less flopping.

A bit more information: Tara is a smaller cultivar of our native prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis). It grows 2 to 3 feet tall and wide with the same showy and fragrant flowers, good fall color and decorative seedpods.

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flowers-ornamental-grasses feather-reed-grass little-bluestem prairie-dropseed switchgrass

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