 Pink Muhly Grass Pink muhly grass, Muhlenbergia capillaris, is a stunning site in autumn, when your garden needs a pick-me-up. This ornamental grass has been described as a mound of pink cotton candy and there isn’t a better description for the cloud of pink that covers the whole cascading foliage. It is a North American native and will settle in and grow into a 4 foot tall by 3 foot wide mound if you give it full sun in USDA zones 6-10. If your tastes run to more colorful blades of grass, try out the low-growing ornamental grass Shenandoah purple switchgrass, Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’. This 2-3 foot tall grass is not invasive like its predecessors can be yet it displays purple-red on green foliage in the spring and summer. Later, deep crimson-red flowers top off the foliage. The foliage has transformed into deep maroon. Most grasses love sun but this one will even tolerate a bit of shade. Going deeper, shorter, and shadier still (6 inches high, eventually spreading to a foot wide), this little ornamental black mondo grass, Ophiopogon planiscapus nigrescesns, is a shade plant in the south, zones 8-10. It will take more sun in its more northerly range, zones 6-7. If your black mondo plantings show brown tips and even some browning of the leaves, try moving it to a shadier position. Pink blossoms and glossy black berries come along after it establishes. Try it as edging in pots and give it plenty of mulch through the winter.  Juncus 'Unicorn' With all of this colorful grass foliage darting and dancing in the garden, you can add a real “Gone Hollywood” plant as accent. Its leaves don’t look like leaves at all, but like rolled stems that twist and curl, grabbing the spotlight in its little patch of earth. Spiral rush, Juncus effusus ‘Unicorn’, likes it wet. He will star next to a pond or in a low area, growing 1-2 feet high. It’s a native American with a wide-ranging climate tolerance, USDA Zones 4-9. Whether you are of the Rock and roll or Swing and Sway era, one of these plants-in-motion will wake up your garden. ---Posted by Coach Anne, July 3, 2008--- |
