Really helpful video - and great to see how well the atom garden is developing. What grass would you recommend for a very windy site? I want to plant a large bed - 40 metres long. Full sun but there's no protection from strong wind. Even in summer my garden furniture is regularly blown across the lawn. Thanks.
Thanks Keith. It's going to be tricky with anything of height that's delicate as the stems will bend and snap. The Miscanthus in the guide is really dense and quite sturdy in my experience. Can take a good battering without looking too shabby. Maybe look at some of the smaller varieties like Luzula and Carex varieties. They too are evergreen so are really easy to care for. I'd avoid the Stipa, Calamogrostis or Bamboo plants they will either look tatty or start to lean in the wind. You could also use some shrubs behind them to act as a buffer Viburnum and Gorse are great for exposed sites (though Gorse is a very prickly character!) I hope that helps! Lee
Hi Keith, absolutely love your garden.. following your videos from the start of the atom garden. I have four circular beds and one oval in the centre Two long beds one at each side. Keith could you tell what way to go about planting the grasses to give impact. I have some of your favourite grasses.. Cottage garden . Thanks
Just come across this video. Really helpful and informative. I am giving a lot of thought to changing the garden to the house I bought in Irlam Nr Manchester 18 mths ago. Currently it's in two halves with a patio area and a lawn area. Slightly weirdly, in spite of being S facing the garden only gets sunlight in pockets, so I get morning sun sitting on the west side of the lawn looking east and two bursts of sun on the patio for an hour between 13.00 and 14.00 and 16.15 to 17.30. This spring I experimented with pots on the patio with a mixture of acers, heucheras and hostas for foliage and geraniums and fuschias for splashes of colour. I really like how this looks from the kitchen window and looking back towards the house from the lawn. My plan for the lawn area is to have the perimeter surrounded with a hornbeam hedge and a simple tea house in the west corner (four uprights and slats on two opposing sides and top). Replace not great lawn with a mixture of different grasses poking up between white gravel. The kind of effect I'm aiming for is a kind of ruined Japanese garden. I like the idea of seeing the outline of the tea house from the kitchen window, looking beyond the acers etc, through a haze of softly moving seed heads. Any ideas on suitable grasses (maybe mixed with a few soft pastel flowering perennials) would be great. Lawn area is about 7.5mtrs by 6mtrs.
Thanks Bajo! Yes I’m a massive grass collector. Brilliant group of plants. Make sure you subscribe for even more garden design hints tips and hacks. Happy gardening. Lee
So I’ll have to send you some pictures of my patio area that I’ve added some grasses into.... and due to the position then creeping into the shade I’ve also added ferns right in the very corner where the sun doesn’t really reach. Tried to use various types to add interest and height. Really like grasses as they do make a garden look that little bit special! 😜👍
Great to hear from you mate. Sounds like you know exactly what you’re doing! You’ll be designing planting schemes yourself shortly!! Looking forward to seeing it and hope life’s treating you well. 😜
Wow I'm so glad I checked RU-vid , I didn't know other people also appreciate grasses. My brother thinks that I'm crazy for suggesting using grass in landscaping our new home. And I said would absolutely look cool. I think grasses have such great potential as an ornamental plant. My idea was to put a lemongrass on a big pot and just let it grow and get a thick clump and put it in a corner. I think it would look very striking. I just love the wispy movement of grass, find it very relaxing. Like it's gracefully dancing with the wind. Are there grasses that would do well indoors?
Thanks Julskechap. I’m a bit obsessed with using Ornamental grasses in the garden. Check out some of my other vids to see them in designs! Happy Gardening. Lee
Thanks for the video Lee! I wish I could use mexican feather grass more, because it looks so soft and pretty, but it's quite invasive in California. My favorite ornamental grass is pink Muhly grass!
You’re welcome. The Pink Muhly is great for dry conditions. Stipa can self seed a bit too much. Same with some other grasses. I quite like letting them do their thing. I just remove ones I don’t want hehe. Free plants! Stay safe and happy gardening! Lee 🥷🌿🤘
Thanks so much for great information. I bough grasses last year for first time and was thrilled with the effect in containers. However, on planting in borders they are not doing so well. Heavy rain May has flattened them and looking sorry for them selves. What do I do?
Hi Joan. I’ve had this happen before. I just tend to leave them to see if they right themselves. A light tidy up can work wonders to remove any bent stems that don’t return. Hope that helps. Lee 🥷🌿
Hi Lee. Loving your grasses! If just ordered some miscanthus gigantism, if never had grasses before, do you have any tips for caring for them? Many thanks.
Hi Sarah. Thanks so much. Yes! Checkout this guide of mine on ornamental grasses here! www.gardenninja.co.uk/how-to-prune-ornamental-grasses-the-easy-way/ 🥷🌿🤘
Really informative video. Thanks! I plan on germinating some of the grasses you talked about, I'm wondering on how many seeds I have to start to get some bushes going on. For example, is the festuca or poted stipa tenuissima you showed, just from one seedling? Or many clumped together?
Thanks for the comment! Each of those plants is from one seedling that’s reached maturity. However if growing grasses from seed I’d sow many more so you have room for seeds that fail to germinate or plants that naturally may fail before maturity. I’d maybe sow around 10 -20 seeds for every one plant you need. Follow the species sowing instructions too. Some grasses need specific conditions Stipa is easy however!! If you end up with more bonus! Hope that helps. Good luck and if you need help on how to sow seeds I’ve got a guide on this channel for that too!! Happy Gardening.
Great video! But the foliage I want to know about is sitting on top of your head! As a 50-year-old guy who started losing his hair in his thirties all I can say is: Why, why why?? Grow it while you can!😀😰
Awesome video.. love the grasses. Heard you mentioned cutting the grass back. I have a maiden grass and it's getting huge for the garden. I did cut the grass down to about 5 ft and there are some dead area in center. Any ideas, thought about cutting it out or cutting it down to 2-3 ft and allow to grow this summer. Will it damage the plant to cut it now?
Hey Wayne. I wouldn’t cut it back now as it will be actively growing. It’s a little late in the season. Cut it back to the ground come the end of September. I cut mine back every year this way. Then you’ll get fresh growth next year with Miscanthus. I’ve got a video on that here. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4Xc5J_1sCXk.html happy gardening! Lee
Great video! I am in north Texas and my backyard does not have good soil more of rocky dry land. I need a tall grass that can cover a fence, what would you recommend? I would really appreciate your feedback. Thank You.
With any grass you’re going to need to improve your soil particularly where you plant it. Dig in compost and organic matter and remove the rocks from where you want to plant it. You can get really tall Panicums and Miscanthus is good for dense cover. Bamboo is also another contender. They can run and become a bit invasive but if your souls poor it may help slow them down! Hope that helps. Lee
Cheers Lee! Quick question- your Deschampsia- is that the straight species itself or is it one of the fancy varieties (goldschlier etc)? Also, how far apart have you planted them for that effect? Beautiful!
Hi David. It’s Deschampsia cespitosa. I planted them about 45cm apart. They don’t get huge but I considered the overall plumes as they spray out. Hope that helps! Happy grass gardening. Lee
Spent all day looking online for juncus inflexus 'blue dart' as had my heart set on it (took me a month to find one I liked) and can't find a single place in the UK that sells it, any suggestions on something very simular?
I have a garden bed of about 10 feet long and 4 ft wide....I placed 4 Miscanthus gracillius maiden grass and they died or are dying...I planted wrong..learning experience ..so I want to dig them up unless you can help me revive them...however I think after further research these miscanthus maybe too big. For that space..any recommendations of something vibrant more narrow..doesn't grow so wide..this is a full sun space and zone 6.
what i would find really helpful (anyone?) would be a (20 MIN+) video of ALL the various types of grasses. best of all would be a split screen, divided into four sub squares showing the following in each of the four quarters: 1: the (pre-flowering) foliage 2: plant with infloresence 3: close up of spikelets 4: the plants as it looks in winter. and finally, full screen video footage of how the mature plant moves/sounds in a breeze (for grass gardeners).
You’ve made this same comment on lots of different RU-vid videos, basically every video that discusses grass planting! I read the identical comment on John Lord’s video on grasses. But nobody else seems to be liking or responding to your comments on any of the videos…
I have a large section of my lawn that I have left go to meadow flowers. is it possible to plant ornamental grasses in this meadow garden without digging out all the lawn grass
Hi Karen, You could but just be mindful of needing to cut them back usually by hand at the end of each winter. Depending on the size this maybe either easy or a bit of a mission, but nothing to stop you adding a few and seeing how it goes! Happy Gardening. Lee
Yes. I cur mine back every February. Using a mini scythe. If you watch my February tours you’ll see me doing this and how to do it. Happy gardening! Lee
Hi Garden Ninja, I’m struggling with crabgrass in my garden, there are loads of crabgrass popping up everywhere, what’s the best solution? Extra info - I live in a new build & my turf is around 3 years old now. Many Thanks in advance.
Unfortunately with grab grass it’s good old manual sweat and tears. Or a weed burner I’m afraid. It depends how infested your ground is. If it’s really bad some times covering the ground in a membrane to starve it off of light. Any effort put in though will be good for your cardio and also result in a better garden! So don’t get despondent! 😊
