A horticultural trend that began on the East Coast nearly 20 years ago and from there blossomed worldwide, grasses are especially at home in New Mexico. We have the wind, brilliant sunlight, and open spaces that stage grasses most effectively, and we have native grasses that outshine some of the imports.

Grasses are an extremely diverse group of plants, growing from the mountains of Iberia to the coast of Japan, through the African Kalahari to Machu Picchu, from Padre Island to Madrid, New Mexico. Some grasses thrive in craggy mountain niches towering 10,000 feet above the arid mesas, while other species prefer to sink roots deep into bottomland clay loams. In the desert, grasses resurrected by summer rains make lace out of sun-baked sands.

Grasses vary greatly in size and shape, from wiry tufts less than a foot tall, to stiff vertical clumps or soft billowy mounds in the two- to three-foot mid-sized range, to big, bold exclamations of the power of the prairie five feet or taller. Flowers and seed heads may be dainty arching puffs of muted color or feathery tassels atop reedy stems. Leaf color ranges from pale gray or blue-green to brilliant emerald, weathering to shades of platinum, gold, silver, rose, rust, or red as the nights turn frosty. Ornamental grasses are grouped into the same broad categories as lawn grasses: cool-season species adapted to higher elevations or to cooler, wetter microclimates in low-lying gardens, and warm-season species adapted to summer heat and seasonal drought.

 

Blended into beds and borders with garden perennials and wildflowers, grasses add color, texture, and movement to the planting scheme. Blue fescue, prairie dropseed, blue avena, and “Karl Foerster” feather reedgrass are among the best grasses in garden beds because they can tolerate some extra watering if needed to keep the garden flowers blooming. They are also less likely to self-sow and run amok in cultivated settings.

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