The grass garden at Dawn Gardens has about 20 different varieties of ornamental grasses. It occupies about 1/4 acre and is irrigated about 4 times a year with rotor heads.
A ride past the grass garden in the golf cart.
Photos of some of the grasses in Dawn Gardens:
EVERGREEN GRASSES:
Giant Feather Grass (Stipa gigantea)
Atlas Fescue (Festuca mairei)
Calamagrostis foliosa
Lomandra longifolia ‘Breeze’ Lomandra is actually not a grass; it is in the Lily family. It is native to Australia and is used for freeway planting because of its tolerance to slopes, poor soil and drought.
Lomandra ‘Lime Tuft’
Lomandra ‘Platinum Beauty’
Pink Muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris)
Pennisetum macrourum
Muhlenbergia dumosa
Autumn Moor Grass (Sesleria autumnalis) with blooming Spanish Bluebells in March.
Festuca amethystina ‘Superba
Pink Crystal Grass in September after being cut back in August.
Evergreen Miscanthus (Miscanthus transmorrisonensis) right side of gate.
DECIDUOUS GRASSES
July
September
December
Feather Reed Grass (Calamagrostis acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’)
Muhlenbergia lindheimeri ?
Muhlenbergia lindheimeri ‘Autumn Glow’
Bunny Tails Grass (Pennisetum massaicum ‘Red Bunny Tails’)
Japanese Silver Grass (Miscanthus sinensis)
Miscanthus ‘Gold Bar’
Pennisetum orientale ‘Karley Rose’
Pennisetum orientale ‘Fairy Tails’
Feathertop (Pennisetum villosum)
Pennisetum spathiolatum
Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans ‘Llano’)
Love Grass (Eragrostis)
Peruvian Feather Grass (Stipa ‘Ichu’)
See post of Mar 8, 2019 The Story of Ichu.
Rattlesnake Grass (Briza media)
Little Bluestem (Schizachryrium scoparium ‘Las Vegas)
Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa macra) cutting back at the end of the year
Black Carex (Carex nudata) is a sedge not a grass.
Grass garden photo taken middle of December.
The deciduous (summer dormant) grasses are usually cut back to the ground in January or February. I usually leave the Miscanthus until March because they still have beautiful seed heads until then.
The daffodils, which are planted under the grasses, start sprouting in January and February and will bloom in March. That leaves the grass garden barren only for 1 or 2 months.
Photo taken March 10.