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Commentary by Angel Rutherford
Special to the Herald/Review
I have discovered a new passion: grasses.
What a lovely addition to the garden and some are quite drought-tolerant. There is nothing more graceful than flowering grasses swaying in the wind. Grasses create movement in the garden. Most grasses start flowering in late summer and in fall, keeping an interest in the landscape all winter long.
As they come in all sizes, I am sure there is one for everybody. Grasses are easy to grow. All they need is some weed-free soil, sunlight and some watering to get them started. The first grass I ever planted was Muelenbergia rigens, our native deer grass. I have it planted next to my pond. It is not considered invasive, and the only place it ever self-seeded itself was right into my pond, into my waterfall, where it lived happily in all that moisture for one year until I took it out because it got too big. Deer grass is very drought-tolerant, but it can grow just as well in the water. This grass forms clumps to 4 feet high and wide, with slender yellow flower spikes in late summer.
 An example of grass used at a local home. (Courtesy of Angel Rutherford) |
Another variety that does very well here is M. rigida or purple Muehly. Native to Texas and New Mexico, it forms green clumps to 2 feet high and wide with purple airy flowers in late summer. Another stunning variety is M. dumosa — Bamboo Muehly. It is native to Arizona, grows 3 to 6 feet tall and wide, and it resembles bamboo with slender woody stems with narrow bright green leaves. The next grass family is the Miscanthus — Eulalia or Maidenhair grasses. These plants need a little more water to perform well.
The boldest and showiest of them all is Ms. condensatus “Cabaret,” a variegated grass. Clumps grow 6 to 7 feet tall and 4 to 5 feet across. It has ribbon-like leaves with a broad white center stripe and green edges. Pink stems that grow to 8 to 9 feet carry coppery pink plumes that age to cream. The seeds are sterile. Unfortunately, I have not enough room in my little garden for such a beauty.
The next grass in this family worth mentioning is Ms. zebrina — zebra grass. It doesn’t grow as tall and is more manageable. Zebra grass has horizontal white and green stripes and beautiful blond hair-like plumes. It likes regular watering. I just found another wonderful grass in this family, which being a miniature fits into my little garden. It is Ms. Gracillimus- Yakushima dwarf, and the leaves are striped with silver. I combined this one in a big planter with a yellow flowering mum and blue pansies and a germander. I love different textures.
Penisetum — fountain grass — is a better suited grass for our desert gardens. Fountain grass is native to China; a fountain effect is created by the flower heads. These grasses form rounded mounds of narrow leaves. The flower heads appear in late summer, looking like tiny foxtails. Popular varieties are “Hamelin” and “Woodside.”
Stay away from P.setaceum. It grows to 5 feet tall and is considered an invasive species because it self seeds freely and can take drought. The best choice is purple fountain grass. It is sterile and has a more manageable size and is pretty. P.alopecuroides “Moudry” is a variety with almost black plumes. P.“Cassian” has light brown plumes with gold fall foliage with red tints. My all-time favorite is P.“Little Bunny,” a dwarf form growing just to 1 1/2 feet and wide. The plumes look like bunny tails, which is charming, but it does self seed. So far it has not been a problem in my garden.
Another pretty accent grass is Festuca glauca — common blue fescue. It only grows to 1 foot high and 10 inches wide, dense tufts of fine leaves in blue gray, summer flower spikes. This grass makes a good edging plant. My newest addition is Stipa tennuissima — thread grass. It grows 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 feet. It is native to the Southwest. The silvery seed heads come all season long and grow above chartreuse foliage. They spin in the wind to interesting clumps. This one is a good grower, maybe a bit too much sometimes.
Events
• Because of an equipment malfunction, I will show my slide show “Built it and they will come”, habitat gardening, again at the Sept. 18 meeting of the Garden Club at the Oscar Yrun Community Center from 1 to 4 p.m. I will repeat this program at the 5th High Desert Garden Fair from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Oct. 18 at the University South Campus, 1140 N. Colombo.
• Don’t forget Art in the Park at Veterans’ Memorial Park in Sierra Vista on Oct. 4 and 5.
• The Garden Club will hold the fall plant sale at the Bisbee Farmers Market in Warren from 8 a.m. to noon on Sept. 13. Hardy plants and grasses will be sold.
ANGEL RUTHERFORD is historian of the Sierra Vista Area Gardeners Club and a Cochise County Master Gardener. For all your gardening questions, visit her Web site, www.angelfrogs.com. You can find her artwork at the Huachuca Art Gallery and the Tombstone Art Association. Her column appears the first Sunday of each month in the Herald/Review.
