Ornamental Grasses in the Garden

2/25/2025 Written By: Kim Elliott

I have a confession to make—many years ago, when I first started gardening, I used to walk right past the ornamental grasses in garden centers without giving them much of a second look. Over the years, as I’ve learned and grown as both a gardener and a designer, my opinion of ornamental grass in the landscape has changed dramatically.

When I think about designing a garden space for someone, I take many factors into consideration: space, color, height, texture, maintenance—just to name a few. Gardens are living, changing, 3D pieces of art, and I’ve found that ornamental grasses not only provide incredible structure to a garden, but also add much-needed movement that really brings the space to life.

In a balanced combination with flowers, shrubs, and trees, ornamental grasses offer a low-maintenance, year-round structural interest that provides a wildlife-supporting accent to any garden space. Their deep roots help prevent erosion, and most are drought-tolerant once established.

Everillo Japanese Sedge brings a bright pop of lime-green foliage that grows about 1 to 1.5 feet high. Gulf Coast Muhly has fine-textured foliage with dusty pink plumes that grow 2 to 3 feet tall. Pampas Grass has medium-green foliage with huge white plumes in the fall and can reach a total height of 10 feet.

With many varieties to choose from that perform well in this area, ornamental grass is the ideal garden accent.