Grasses and Bamboos for Fall and Winter

Home Gardening Center
Grass and Bamboo Garden

Ornamental grasses and grass-like plants are among the most beautiful, easy-to-grow, and durable of all garden plants. They have the added advantage of being resistant to diseases and pests, including deer. Grasses add texture, color, and movement to the garden, and their beauty lasts from early summer through fall into winter. There are grasses for sun and shade and of every size from a few inches to more than ten feet tall. Leaf colors range from pale blue to gold and silver to rich, dark green. Many grasses take on vibrant gold and russet colors in late summer and fall. Grass flowers are just as beautiful as the leaves; their spikes and feathery plumes add late-season interest to the garden. Visit the Home Gardening Center to see first-hand a wide selection of grasses, sedges, and bamboos with winter interest.

Bamboos are grasses with woody stems. Because most bamboos spread rapidly underground, it is best to plant them where they are contained by pavement, a deep edging, or try them in pots. Clump-forming bamboos such as Fargesia will not spread.

Sedges are grass-like plants that also add color, texture, and movement to the garden. Many form low mounds and grow well in shady or moist conditions, adding subtle color and texture to many plant combinations. New Zealand sedges have naturally reddish brown leaves and do well in sun and well-drained soil.

Here are just some of the beautiful grasses, sedges, and bamboos that surround the Kenneth Roman Gazebo in the Home Gardening Center.

Grasses and Sedges
blue grama grass Bouteloua gracilis
quaking grass Briza media
feather reed grass Calamagrostis × acutiflora 'Karl Foerster'
sedge Carex 'Bronzita'
leatherleaf sedge Carex buchananii
sedge Carex flagellifera
variegated Japanese sedge Carex oshimensis 'Evergold'
orange New Zealand sedge Carex testacea
compact pampas grass Cortaderia selloana 'Pumila'
Sapphire Fountain blue oat-grass Helictotrichon sempervirens 'Saphirsprudel'
Japanese silver grass Miscanthus sinensis 'Dixieland'
Japanese silver grass Miscanthus sinensis 'Gold Bar'
Japanese silver grass Miscanthus sinensis 'Graziella'
Japanese silver grass Miscanthus sinensis 'Huron Sunrise'
Japanese silver grass Miscanthus sinensis 'Little Kitten'
variegated Japanese silver grass Miscanthus sinensis 'Little Zebra'
variegated Japanese silver grass Miscanthus sinensis var. condensatus 'Cabaret'
variegated Japanese silver grass Miscanthus sinensis var. condensatus 'Cosmopolitan'
tall purple moor grass Molinia caerulea ssp. arundinacea 'Skyracer'
hair grass Muhlenbergia capillaris
Mexican feather grass Nassella tenuissima 'Pony Tails'
Bitter panic grass Panicum amarum 'Dewey Blue'
switch grass Panicum virgatum 'Dallas Blue'
switch grass Panicum virgatum 'Northwind'
switch grass Panicum virgatum 'Shenandoah'
fountain grass Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Foxtrot'
fountain grass Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Hameln'
dwarf fountain grass Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Little Bunny'
ornamental millet Pennisetum glaucum 'Purple Majesty'
fountain grass Pennisetum orientale 'Karley Rose'
red fountain grass Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum'
little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium 'The Blues'
Siberian graybeard Spodiopogon sibiricus

Bamboos
Chinese mountain bamboo Fargesia rufa Green Panda™
clump-forming bamboo Fargesia robusta 'Green View'
golden variegated bamboo Hibanobambusa tranquillans 'Shiroshima'
broad-leaved bamboo Indocalamus tessellatus
golden groove bamboo Phyllostachys aureosulcata
golden bamboo Phyllostachys aureosulcata forma aureocaulis
zig zag bamboo Phyllostachys flexuosa
black bamboo Phyllostachys nigra
Henon black bamboo Phyllostachys nigra forma henonis
bamboo Phyllostachys nuda
dwarf fern-leaf bamboo Pleioblastus pygmaeus 'Green Carpet'
dwarf striped bamboo Pleioblastus variegatus 'Little Zebra'
variegated bamboo Pleioblastus variegatus 'Tsuboii'
variegated bamboo Pleioblastus viridistriatus
Japanese bamboo Sasa tsuboiana 'Green View'
Veitch's bamboo Sasa veitchii

Season: Fall