Serenity in the Garden

The “meadow planting” style of gardening that is so popular now includes plants from various German breeders. Of course you can plant the original native species to help our pollinators...  Click on the links in the captions for more information. Karl Foerster bred tall, hardy plants suited to the northern European climate.  He  called grasses “Mother Nature’s hair”  and one of his best known and popular plants is the strongly vertical  Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster’ (a form of feather-reed grass). Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grass Karl Foerster feather reed grass in background. Sedum Matrona on right. Ernst Pagels  developed new varieties of Miscanthus sinensis .   Piet Oudolf was a friend of Pagels and uses his plants, among others .  Pagels developed Miscanthus sinensis 'Malepartus' which looks like Pampas grass but blooms in midsummer so people in cooler climates can enjoy the bloom.  Hoffman ...

'Blue Paradise' Little Bluestem courtesy of Proven Winners   Deep wine purple fall color. When the American Horticultural Society decided to create a large meadow at their headquarters, River Farm, in Virginia the first plant they seeded was  Little Bluestem.   ( I wrote about this earlier but have added to it. ) Photo Courtesy of Lazy S'S Farm  They applied 100 pounds of Bluestem seed. The Latin name is  Schizachyrium scoparium or  skiz-ah-KEER-ee-um sko-PAR-ee-um. Why was this the first plant they seeded? Because Little Bluestem is a NATIVE, wonderful, durable, upright,   clump forming grass that is eminently suitable for 'meadow making'. 'The Blues' courtesy of the  Battery Database Little Bluestem is native to almost all of the United States and parts of Canada. It is found in  45 of the 50 states, making it the most abundant of all native grasses. It is drought and flood-tolerant, can gro...