After four long months of warmth, the garden decided it was autumn prematurely. Yellow leaves piled up against the kerbstones. Everything might be dry and crispy, but for those who believe that planting should be done between September and April, it’s the start of a whole new school term in the garden.
I won’t be planting anything just yet: my garden is currently home to steel girders and a cement mixer. Instead, I’ve been taking inspiration from other green spaces: other people’s gardens, parks, allotments and community growing spaces are far more interesting than mine. And when you can’t garden in your own plot, gardens become even more addictive. Which is why grasses are on my mind: my son was running through our well-landscaped local play park yesterday morning, the sun was low and yolky, and the seedheads were shimmering. Yes, I thought, I need more of these.
I have an internal Rolodex of good grass inspiration. There’s a front garden near our old place that consisted purely of erigeron tumbling over steps and gravel, and golden Stipa gigantea rising above. It was so magical and clean and confident. The Oudolf Field at Hauser & Wirth Somerset and the High Line in New York, where I first saw Piet Oudolf’s New Perennial design catch the light 16 years ago, show how magical these often overlooked wafty wonders can be. Visiting floral artist Hazel Gardiner’s garden for the first time, in early September six years ago, I was struck by the post-shower sunlight splintering through miscanthus plumes.
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Grasses offer a shimmer to the spectacle of their more floriferous late-summer companions (dahlias, I’m looking at you). Stipa gigantea is massive, as the name might suggest, but it’s also airy, so if you have the space for it, it can create a beautiful sense of hide-and-seek in a garden. On the dinkier side is Melica uniflora, which is surprisingly tolerant of dry shade and, after taking its time to settle in, will cover ground with green leaves and tiny pale flowers.
Much as grasses cover the spectrum of size and scale, don’t think they’re just for hot sunny spots. Beth Chatto’s water garden in Essex demonstrates how well grasses grow in moist conditions, with Deschampsia cespitosa ‘Goldschleier’ turning a golden yellow about now after summer flowering. And as for shadier spots, Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ (pictured above) did well in the shade bed in my last garden.
However many grasses you want to plant, I’d round up to the next odd number. It just looks better. Movement and texture come from repetition. Now is a good time to try some smaller pots of hardy varieties, which can establish over the cooler months before putting on a show next year.