Catch the breeze with summer- and fall-blooming, ornamental grasses. Many varieties come into their own in late summer with majestic, flowering spikes that bring height, movement, and whispers to the landscape. You’ll be happy if you plant these grasses that bring fall color and winter interest… and the wildlife will also love them for food and shelter. August is a good time to purchase them because mature grasses are available in larger containers.
1. Prairie Dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis): A great choice of grass for your native landscape is Prairie Dropseed, also called Northern Dropseed. In spring, it sprouts bright green leaves. By summer, it stands two feet tall, crowned with airy cloud of seed tiny heads. Come fall, it turns a golden bronze, feeding songbirds into the winter. Low maintenance, visually stunning, and perfect for any sunny garden.
2. Autumn Moor grass (Sesleria autumnalis): ‘Autumn Moor’ is a clump-forming, cool season ornamental grass. The primary flower is less showy than most grasses, but the silvery-white inflorescences are really attractive. Tough and long-lived, Autumn Moor Grass is a densely tufted evergreen perennial grass that forms a neat clump of narrow, lime-green leaves. Performs best in full sun to part shade in moderately fertile and moist, but well drained soils. Be careful not to overwater this plant.
In fall, this grass changes from its bright green summer foliage to a beautiful golden-yellow, complemented by silvery-white flower spikes that appear in late summer and persist through fall.
3. Japanese Blood Grass (Imperata cylindrica ‘Red Baron’): A very distinctive ornamental grass with upright, bright green blades whose upper half turns cranberry-red in summer.
In autumn, the leaves transition from green with red tips in the spring to summer’s fiery red or burgundy-red hue as the season progresses. The color intensifies as the weather cools. Japanese Blood grass show off its most vibrant color in full sun. This hardy plant doesn’t need much attention to thrive. However, be careful because it can become invasive.
4. Purple Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’): Although this is the only annual grass in this list, it tops the list of ‘must-have’ grasses. This Fountain grass is a drought tolerant grass that forms a tidy, dense clump of purple-maroon leaves topped with rose-red plumes. Place it as a single landscape specimen or include it in flowering containers. Prefers full to part sun.
In late summer, the plant’s burgundy leaves intensify to a deep reddish-purple with the seasonal transition to autumn… eventually fading to buff or tawny brown before dying back for winter.
5. Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardi): As a native of the Midwestern tallgrass prairie, Big Bluestem is a warm season grass that actively grows during the summer when soil temperatures are warm. It is a big plant, growing to over six feet tall. It features an upright clump of stems with flattened leaves that emerge gray to blue-green in spring, matures to green with tinges of red in summer and turns a reddish bronze with lavender tones in autumn after a frost. Flowering stems rise in late summer above the foliage with purplish, 3- parted, finger-like flower clusters (up to 4″ long)… resembling turkey feet.
6. Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa macra): It’s a graceful and bright groundcover for shady areas. Slender stems hold golden yellow (‘All Gold’) or green striped foliage (‘Aureola’) that creates a bamboo-like effect. This perennial has excellent color and texture for mixed shade borders with Hostas, Bergenia and Pachysandra.
In the fall, Japanese Forest Grass typically develops subtle orange and red coloring. Cultivars such as ‘Aureola’ may also develop pink hues.
