MUST HAVE plants
Add some elegance and architecture to your garden with robust miscanthus grasses, says Sue Fisher
While many splendid ornamental grasses offer a wealth of beautiful textures, colours and shapes, miscanthus stands head and shoulders above the competition, combining long-lasting structure and height along with grace and movement. These tough and hardy grasses form narrow, upright clumps of elegant foliage, which in summer erupt with slender stems topped by airy clouds of flowers that last for months. Then, although the growth dies and bleaches to biscuit-brown, plants keep their structure to remain shapely and architectural during winter, highlighting the changing weather from misted and spider-webbed to silvered with frost, or backlit by low winter sun.
The genus comprises around 20 species that all originate from Asia. Most miscanthus grown in UK gardens are varieties of Miscanthus sinensis, commonly known as silvergrass. In Japan this species is known as susuki grass and here it has a long history with many practical uses, including thatching, fodder and as a dye plant. The flowers are commonly used in arranging and they are also symbolised in art, particularly to represent a good harvest.
This robust, hardy, sun-loving species is handsome and reliable, growing in any decent soil that doesn’t waterlog. With a wide size range from knee-height to several metres, there’s a variety to suit most sites, including pots and raised beds. Tall varieties make excellent screening plants and are favourites for this purpose in urban and courtyard gardens as an alternative to bamboo, which untidily and regularly sheds its papery leaf sheaths. However, if you are using miscanthus for screening, be aware that there will be a spring gap between cutting back the old foliage and the new season’s regrowth.
As well as suiting different sites, Miscanthus sinensis is great in a wide range of planting styles. For the naturalistic look that’s currently in vogue, they make superb ‘anchor’ plants to use repeatedly through a planting for structural effect. Upright stems make gorgeous contrasts to daisy-flowered perennials that suit this planting style, such as helenium, echinacea, helianthus and aster, as well as flat-headed eupatorium and verbena. Equally, they look very at home in a more traditional mixed border with a range of plants, from roses to conifers. For beds and pots of summer bedding
