Leaves of grass

Gina Parkinson shows how ornamental grasses can add depth to your garden.

ORNAMENTAL grasses add another dimension to the garden with strappy leaves and long stems carrying tiny flowers and seed heads that tremble in the slightest of breezes.

The group varies from the bright yellow annual Milium effusum, which spreads itself around spring bedding and bulbs, to the stately and much-maligned cortaderia or pampas grass.

This latter plant can grow up to 3m/10ft high and needs space to be appreciated properly, perhaps grown as a specimen plant in a lawn or a gravelled area. Evergreen in mild areas, the foliage will die back in colder spots and grow again as temperatures begin to rise the following spring.

Tall plumes appear at the end of the summer and are ideal for drying.

Popular pampas grasses include cortaderia selloana pumila', a compact and free-flowering variety the grows up to 1.2m/4ft high with a similar spread, and sortaderia selloana Sunningdale silver' which can grow up to 2.1m/7ft tall.

Both flower from September through to November.

Calamagrostis x acutiflora overdam' is a much more delicate looking plant than the beefy cortadorias. It forms a neat clump of thin, cream-margined leaves from which rise rod-straight stems topped with sandy coloured flowers in mid to late summer.

These usually last until the following spring when new growth begins. Overdam' and the similar but non-variegated variety Karl Foerster' are ideal for limited spaces, giving height; they grow around 1.3m/51ins tall with a width of 60cm/2ft at most. Moist but well-drained soil in part shade is the preferred condition.

For something a little different, Miscanthus sinensis zebrinus' or zebra grass is a good choice. This densely clumping plant has bright green leaves marked with yellow stripes running horizontally along their length.

The contrast of green and yellow seems to become more marked as the season progresses and is best in sun although this grass will also tolerate shady conditions where the growth is stronger but with less variegation.

Zebrinus' also benefits from having plenty of space. I moved mine from a crowded, shaded spot earlier this year to a more open, sunnier place where it has recovered well and put on lots of new growth.

Morning sun shines through the leaves, highlighting the gold bars, and afternoon sun bathes the bed in warm, autumnal light. It grows with bronze fennel, now fading but giving an interesting background skeleton of stems, lime coloured nicotiana and dark leafed rich pink flowered dahlias.

Miscanthus sinensis gracillimus' is a relative of the Zebra grass with thinner, more delicate leaves that tend to curl as they get longer.

Like the zebra grass, it had been planted wrongly in my garden and was moved to a much sunnier place at the beginning of the summer.

After a tricky few weeks, it began to show signs of new growth and is now looking much stronger, growing in front of a spring-flowering dark purple-leafed clematis, the bare lower stems of which it should eventually hide. It hasn't flowered this year but when it does, this usually happens between July and September.

The zebra grass is unlikely to bloom in the north.

Grasses are easy to look after once they are established and need little care.

Evergreen species need to be combed' in spring to remove dead leaves, while deciduous species should be cut back as new growth begins to appear.

Comb evergreens with the fingers, a kitchen fork or a rake, depending on the toughness of the leaves and the size of the plant.

Watch out for seedlings around the garden as some species will self-seed very easily.

Garden talk

SALLY Cummings, from White Cottage Alpines, will give a talk entitled New Ways With Alpines, on Tuesday, at Askham Bryan College. Organised by Askham Bryan College (ABC) Gardening Club, the talk will begin at 7.30pm in the Conference Hall. Tickets are free for ABC Gardening Club members and £5 on the door for non-members. More information on the website at www.abcgardeningclub.org.uk

Gardening TV and radio

Sunday, September 17.

9am, Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther with Joe Maiden.

2pm, R4, Gardeners' Question Time. From Hampshire with Chris Beardshaw, Anne Swithinbank, Bob Flowerdew and chairman Eric Robson. Chris Beardshaw also helps Paul Brice and Beth Clougher as they prepare their Birmingham allotment for the winter. The gardening weather forecast is at 2.25pm.

Saturday, September 23.

8am, Radio York, Gardening Phone-in. With Nigel Harrison, telephone 0845 300 3000.

Open garden

Wednesday, September 20.

In aid of the National Gardens Scheme.

Hunmanby Grange, Wold Newton, 12.5 miles south east of Scarborough on the road from Burton Fleming to Fordon.

Three-acre garden created from an exposed field on top of the Yorkshire Wolds. Fences and hedges provide protection for a series of garden rooms planted for year-round colour with seasonal highlights. There is an adjacent nursery. More information at www.hunmanbygrange.co.uk Open 1-5pm. Admission £2.50.