Ornamental grasses like Karl Forester grass can give your landscape appeal all winter long. Erik Helland of Landscape Garden Centers in Sioux Falls has some tips on planting grasses in your landscape.
“Grasses have become a really important element in landscapes,” Helland said. “They provide height, they provide interest. The greatest thing about grasses is that they provide year-round interest. If you leave them up through the wintertime and through the spring, you'll get frost on them (as they are) developing. They'll develop seed heads and they just become a cool plant to use. They'll also turn different colors in the fall, which provides even more interest. Now, the most important thing about grasses is that they tend to get bigger.”
Helland says grasses grow and spread in one of two ways.
“Some grasses are going to be spreading and those are the ones where you want to be looking at the tag. Some of them are going to send out rhizomes and they'll just keep on growing wider and wider and wider. Others are clump-forming, where their clump just gets a little bit bigger each time. The most popular one that everybody sees is probably the Karl Forester grass, which is very clump-forming and columnar, very upright, very clean-looking, stays within itself. Doesn't get crazy out there. Some of the fescues will get a little bit wider and they'll keep on growing and spreading. So make sure to look at the tag carefully to see which one works for your area.”
Helland says ornamental grasses can be a great tool to use within your landscape.
“Grasses are only going to want to be in full sun. They're going to want well-drained soil. Some of them, like big bluestem and little bluestem, are native to this area so they can handle drought conditions too. So if you have an area that just does not get a lot of water or rain, then that would be something to consider.”
Grasses don’t flower but can add interesting texture and color to your landscape.
“The grasses’ flower is basically their bloom, or their flume. That comes up on the top of the seed, which is the seed head, and the seed head will look different on different grasses. Some of them are going to look like wheat. Some of them will dangle off to the edge, like a side-oats grama. There's just a lot of different types of plants that are out there in grasses to use in a landscape.” If you have questions for Erik Helland, send them to: IntheMoment@sdpb.org. He may answer your question on-the-air during the South Dakota Home Garden segment, Wednesdays on SDPB Radio's "In the Moment."