ROCK GARDENS
Ornamental
Grasses for Marsh or Rock Gardens 2
It can be raised from seed,
and with liberal treatment, seedlings will
flower in their third or fourth year. By
sowing thinly in February or March in pots,
prior to introduction to the rock gardens,
The various Eulalias (Miscanthus), the two
Feather Grasses, Stipa pennata and S. gigantea,
hardy perennials, and the hardy biennial
Hordeum jubatum, or Crested Barley Grass,
are also most useful for mixing with other
flowers, and very elegant in themselves.
The smallest Feather Grass almost rivals
the Festuca glauca for edgings. The handsome
silver foliage of the Festuca contrasts beautifully
with red rock garden gravel paths, and is
said to harbour fewer pests than any other
living edging. It is neat, graceful, and
easily kept. The only attention required
being to cut off the flower-stems in summer;
this should not be neglected as the cutting
off of the flower-stems maintains the leaves
in health and beauty. Annuals. The hardy
annuals are best sown where they have to
grow, the seed being put in in April, or
in May in colder localities. Except in cold,
damp soils and in exposed districts, most
hardy annuals are all the better if treated
as biennials and sown where they are to grow
in July or August. Half-hardy annuals are
sown under glass in a temperature of from
60° to 70°F., hardened off in May,
and planted out in June; or they can be sown
where they are to grow about the middle of
May. Perennials. Hardy perennials are sown
in a nursery bed of fine soil in the open
in May and June, and are transplanted to
their permanent positions in October; half-hardy
species being sown under glass in March to
be planted out in the open in the next October.
All grasses sown where they are to grow must
be thinned when from two to three inches
high, if bushy plants are to result. Almost
all species thrive in good, well-drained
loam, in a sunny, open position. In cold,
damp situations it is frequently necessary
to treat many of the perennials as annuals
and to raise fresh plants each year. Perennial
grasses are also propagated by division of
roots either in April or October, at which
times they should also be planted, if moved,
from one part of the garden to another. Apart
from their beauty as rock, marsh, and wild
garden plants, many ornamental grasses, when
correctly dried, can be used effectively
to fill the flower vases, or at least to
supplement the cut flowers during the period
of shortage of blooms through the winter
months.
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