Perennial Grasses
In today’s post I’m sharing some of our favorite perennial grasses for fresh and dried use. We are limited a bit here in zone 4. There may be many more types of grasses for you to choose from if you’re in a slightly warmer climate.
Some grasses, like pampas grass, may be prohibited in your area. Be aware of species that are invasive and avoid them.
Retail buying tip: I get many of our grasses from end of summer sales at the garden center at Lowe’s. There tend to be a number of grasses that get left behind (under-appreciated in my mind) and they are eventually marked down to clearance prices. When you get them home, they will likely be very root-bound. Be sure to gently break apart/loosen the roots and plant them in securely to avoid heaving up in the winter time. Water in well. Once the plants establish you can dig them up each year and divide them. I prefer to do this in the fall once we’re done harvesting from them.
Some of the plants I’m sharing here can also be grown easily from seed that is available for purchase. I have not tried harvesting the seeds from the nursery plants and growing it.
American Meadows has a nice offering of ornamental grasses.
In this video:
Calamagrostis (Korean Feather Reed Grass)
Panicum Red Switch Grass (Cheyenne Sky)
Pennisetum Fountain Grass (I’m not exactly sure the variety that we have, but there are many kinds of fountain grasses.)
Panicum Switch Grass Totem Pole