Types of Plants – Ornamental Grasses

Ornamental Grasses thrive in open positions in full sun in the herbaceous border, as a specimen plant or in containers.

Care: Soil should hold moisture but be well drained and not too fertile. Do not deadhead as grasses can often look pretty during winter months and will add extra interest. Cut down to ground level in the spring to give room for the new growth. Propagate by division or seed.

Ornamental Grasses in our Garden: Below is a selection of grasses we have in our garden; click the image to Buy your Own

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Hedges are trees or shrubs which are planted close together to form a continuous row of foliage. They are usually cut to maintain a particular shape and height.

Ground Cover plants are low growing, spreading shrubs which can cover a large area of ground, usually quite quickly. They suppress weeds and require very little attention.

Evergreens are plants that keep their leaves all year round although they do tend to shed a few along the way.

Climbers are shrubs which are adapted to growing up vertical structures, they add a vertical element to a garden and can be trained against a wall, fence or trellis, over arches and pergolas, through trees or used as ground cover.

Bulbs, Corms and Rhizomes are herbaceous plants, when they die back at the end of each season all the goodness from the plant matter is stored in the bulb, corm or rhizome.

Biennials are herbaceous plants that complete their life-cycle in two years. Growing in the first year and flowering in the next. Some plants grown as biennials are actually short-lived perennials, they tend to be dug up after flowering because they do not perform well in their second year.

Bedding Plants are usually used to fill gaps in the borders for a temporary affect. Once flowering is complete they can be disposed of on the compost heap. They mainly consist of Half Hardy Annuals.

Alpines are small shrubs or perennials that grow naturally in mountainous areas and are often used in rockeries.

Half Hardy Perennials are similar to hardy perennials in that they will also die down in autumn and grow again the following spring, however, they cannot withstand frost so they require to be protected over the winter or taken into a greenhouse.

Hardy Perennials die down each autumn and grow again the following spring so they can stay in the ground all year and only require to be split every three to five years.

Like Hardy Annuals these plants live for just one season and will die after flowering and setting seed. However, they cannot stand the cold so should be planted out after all risk of frost has passed.

Hardy Annuals are herbaceous plants that live for just one year; they will die after flowering and setting seed and should then be composted.

Generally smaller than trees with either a very short main stem or multiple stems. They are long living plants grown for their flowers, foliage or fruits.They come on many shapes and sizes and can be grown in almost any part of the garden. Shrubs can be evergreen or deciduous.

Conifers are similar to trees but there are a number of biological differences, most are evergreen but some are deciduous. They make great architectural features in a garden, particularly planted in groups, they also provide excellent ground cover.

Trees are woody perennials usually with a clean main stem with branches above. Most trees are deciduous but there are some evergreens.