Photo by Fran Binning
Click on the links to view some of our member's gardens.
Melanie’s Garden
Susan & Ken’s Garden
Cheryl & Rick’s Garden on the Grand
Kathy G’s Lilies
Pat & Ted’s Garden
Liz's Garden & Farm
Roberta & Rienk’s Garden
Kathy G's Garden
Fran's Garden
Summer Breezes Make Garden Grasses Dance and Whisper in the Wind
Click on the link to view Belinda's Garden.
Belinda Gallagher's Garden
Low maintenance gardening begins with ornamental grasses
Drive down any country road and you soon realize that grasses have always been a part of our natural landscapes. Take a stroll through your local garden tour and you will see that ornamental grasses are being used frequently in the home garden.
Ornamental grasses are not lawn grasses.
Belinda Gallagher presented to the Fergus Horticultural Society, the Lowest of the Low Maintenance Grasses and Sedges.
(Click to view presentation)
Gallagher loves grasses because of their versatility and the low maintenance required - no watering, no fertilizing, no worries.
Fertilizer and water makes them grow too fast, the stems get weak, and they will lay over. Grasses have extensive root systems and they will seek out moisture. They will become established within 1 month. When there is a drought grasses will be shorter.
Most grasses will grow in areas where other plants have trouble. There are no "maintenance free" plants but ornamental grasses come pretty close. They grow in almost any garden soil and once established they are rarely bothered by pests or diseases.
Gallagher calls ornamental grasses, plants that have narrow foliage, one seed leaf (monocots) – cannot be grown from cuttings, leaf veins are typically parallel and most are herbaceous – die back underground in our climate.
Gallagher insists to fully appreciate the beauty, diversity and usefulness of ornamental grasses, they should be viewed in a garden setting. It is impossible to appreciate the beauty of these plants when they are sitting with others in the greenhouse.
Once established, ornamental grasses will add distinction to your garden during the summer months and will be quite dramatic in winter landscape as well. The true beauty of grasses is held by winter's grip.
Grasses which die back completely in the winter can be rejuvenated by cutting the entire plant back to within about 3-4 inches of the ground. Do this in early March when the ground is still frozen, to save stepping on the spring bulbs.
Don't wait too long, or you risk cutting off the tips of the new season's growth.
If you like a clean garden in the fall, don’t buy ornamental grasses. The best thing about them is their winter interest. In the early spring, some are cut back to 1-2 inches, others to 8 inches – depends on the height. Leave them longer so that you won’t step on the new shoots.
With ornamental grasses, looks aren't everything. They add motion and sound to your garden. The gentle waving motion and the accompanying sounds create a very peaceful atmosphere. Animated movements will change with the seasons (dry and living grasses appear and sound very different).
Most ornamental grasses prefer full sun but there are a few species that tolerate light shade. Generally, they prefer well-drained soil which has been enriched with compost or other organic matter.
Grasses and sedges can be used as fillers or the main attraction, border or background plantings, as or screens, or they may be grown as container plants. Their adaptability and beauty make them perfect companions to flowering plants and woody ornamentals.
It is important to know if a plant is warm or cold season so that you know first what the plant should look like when you purchase it, and second, so that you don’t pull out plants that aren’t dead.
COLD SEASON GRASSES (15-20° C) - bloom in early spring, go dormant in the heat of the summer, but look good in the fall again, generally smaller plants – shorter, less than 3 feet in height and some are evergreen.
WARM SEASON GRASSES (25° C) - grow and flower in summer or fall, usually have beautiful colours in fall, go dormant for the winter -- even though you often use the warm season plants for winter interest, all the structure that you see (brown leaves or seedheads) are dead and tend to be larger plants.
ATTRIBUTES OF GRASSES – plumes with seed heads that can be curvy, open or upright, fall light emphasizes the colours, stems on switch grasses can be very intense, texture – soft, frothy, puffy, wispy, spiky, form and movement – always moving in the gardens, even if just standing still, they are structural; add a lot of interest and look great when frosts are on seedheads or stems and attract wildlife.
To read about Belinda Gallagher’s favourite picks of grasses, sedges and bamboos, click here to view Belinda 's favourities
