All Native Grass Garden

15 years ago

I went to the History Museum to shoot these photos to share here on the grass forum. It is planted entirely in native grasses. This is my favorite garden and what got me started on this grass obsession I am now on. It is even more beautiful in the fall especially when the smokey pink seed heads of the Prairie Dropseed is in bloom along with the Three Awn which is brighter and not as "dusky" pink. The Bluestem is stunning in fall massed like this. The Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula)are blooming heavily already and just get better and better as the season progresses.

The white seedheads shining in the late sunlight is common Purple Threeawn (Aristida purpurea).

The little bluestem is starting to form culms and seed heads. It is very "steely" blue. I notice some of it lays sideways, all one direction and some stands straighter. Don't know why but it looks good anyway. There is a very large area planted entirely in Gulf Muhly, not looking real interesting yet but it is stunning in fall.

I love the big rocks and the way the plants are on mounds in parts of the garden. This is a very large grass garden that uses no irrigation, just rainfall.

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Comments (6)

donn_
15 years ago
Lovely! With the exception of the turf grass and the corrugated bed edging, it looks completely natural. Love the rocks.
cactusgarden
Original Author
15 years ago
Wouldn't Buffalo Grass look much better than bermuda? And weird, no Indian Grass (our State Grass)

There is another native grass garden like this going in around one of the new Capital buildings. I like the trend.

I collected ten tiny bluestems growing out of place. They are lighter in color and have thinner blades than anything I am growing. All the seedlings are very light blue/grey. It was 105 degrees when I did this yesterday. Very nice here right now.

{{gwi:859999}}
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rock_oak_deer
15 years ago
That's a great display of grasses. Very nice inspiration.

Would love to see a fall pic too.
terrene
15 years ago
Those pictures are beautiful. Thank you for posting them! I absolutely love the combo of rocks and native grasses. It would be nice to see more of that turf grass turned into native gardens.

That Muhly grass is going be gorgeous when it blooms. I would love to grow the pink Muhly but it is probably too cold here.

Being partial to flowers, there could be a few more patches of native forbs mixed in there.
cactusgarden
Original Author
15 years ago
I don't know what happened to the forbs. A couple years ago there were entire areas that are now bare that were planted in native forbs. I plan to go back and shoot some more photos in fall, preferably late afternoon when it really catches the light. It is stunning. I think its nicer and much more interesting than the typical ornamental varieties I see planted so often everywhere around here. They look so contrived (boring) by comparison, but that is just my own preference. I am leaning toward going exclusively native with the grasses and have already started giving away the imported "garden" grasses I bought last year.
wantonamara Z8 CenTex
15 years ago
I just love your Mountain Pinks in your garden. GOOD JOB!