21 Best Ornamental Grasses for Full Sun

Decorative grasses are tremendously helpful within the panorama. Are you rising a pocket prairie? Including no less than one native grass species will diversify your plot. Are you attempting to draw birds to your yard? Grasses present meals and shelter for a lot of species of birds. Do you want a bigger floor cowl to fill a nook of your cottage backyard? Select a densely mounded bunchgrass. It doesn’t matter what sort of backyard you’ve gotten, there may be virtually actually a decorative grass to match. 

Grasses are extensively tailored to many various climates and rising circumstances. The grasses on this listing will thrive in full solar, however pay attention to soil circumstances. Some grasses want moist soils, whereas others want dry circumstances. Take a look at the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone map to study your zone. It will make it easier to discover the most effective grasses to your area. 

On the whole, decorative grasses are straightforward to develop. Most will develop very properly with none additional coaxing. Annual grasses will most likely re-seed themselves every year, whereas perennial species will usually go dormant for the winter, although a number of species are evergreen. When plant vigor begins to say no or a grass clump has outgrown its allotted house, it’s time to do some thinning. You can too take away undesirable seedlings every spring to assist management inhabitants development. 

Are you able to introduce some uniquely showy vegetation into your panorama? Let’s dig somewhat deeper into 21 stunning varieties of decorative grass that make nice landscaping vegetation to your sunniest places.

Seeds Talked about in This Article

Blue Grama Grass

Decorative Millet

Purple Majesty Decorative Millet Seeds

Frosted Explosion

Frosted Explosion Grass Seeds

Autumn Flame Grass

	botanical identify Miscanthus ‘Purpurascens’
	solar necessities Full solar to partial shade
	top 4 – 5 ft
	hardiness zones 5 – 9

Autumn flame grass is a fantastically showy grass with good crimson fall foliage. This decorative grass could be very versatile and straightforward to develop. Use it as an accent plant, particularly the place its foliage might be seen and appreciated within the cooler autumn months when the fluffy seed plumes and colourful foliage will complement some close by fall-blooming flowers similar to chrysanthemums and asters. 

Autumn flame grass will do properly in average-quality, well-drained soil that stays considerably moist. Since this plant can simply attain 5 ft tall and three ft throughout, it requires a location with loads of rising house. Clumps of this grass will unfold by rhizomes, retaining a really enticing and densely packed upright kind.

Blue Fescue ‘Elijah Blue’ 

	botanical identify Festuca glauca ‘Elijah Blue’
	solar necessities Full solar
	top 0.75 – 1 foot
	hardiness zones 4 – 8

There are a number of stunning styles of blue fescue grass, and ‘Elijah Blue’ is a well-liked and extensively obtainable cultivar. Due to its compact kind, ‘Elijah Blue’ is a nice plant for a rock backyard or to be used alongside a walkway or flower backyard border. 

Blue fescue grasses could keep evergreen in favorable circumstances. These vegetation will die again in very chilly climates and in scorching summers. Clumps of ‘Elijah Blue’ will unfold to kind dense mounds, however these vegetation don’t unfold aggressively. If you wish to use this grass as a floor cowl, you will want to plant a number of clumps intently collectively and benefit from the mass of skinny, silvery inexperienced foliage.

Blue Grama Grass

	botanical identify Bouteloua gracilis
	solar necessities Full solar
	top 0.75 – 2 ft
	hardiness zones 3 – 10

Blue grama grass is a good looking decorative grass native to southern and western North America. It’s simply grown from seed and can self-seed in ultimate circumstances, spreading to kind massive, enticing clusters.

Blue grama grass has skinny, wiry foliage gracefully arching in rounded tufts. Throughout the summer time, it blooms with showy inflorescences that department outward from the stems at dramatic angles. These flowers make a pleasant addition to a contemporary or dried flower association. Within the autumn, the grassy foliage turns bronze with maybe a tinge of crimson.

Blue Oat Grass

	botanical identify Helictotrichon sempervirens
	solar necessities Full solar
	top 2 – 3 ft
	hardiness zones 4 – 8

Blue oat grass is an easy-to-grow decorative grass with showy leaves and flowers. It appears nice when grown in a big container or as a part of a xeriscape or prairie-themed panorama.

Blue oat grass produces dense, rounded clumps of very skinny, pale inexperienced foliage. In gentle climates, the foliage could keep semi-evergreen, retaining its enchantment even via the winter. In late spring to early summer time, many tall flowering stems bearing skinny panicles attain up above the foliage to create an interesting floral show. 

‘Dancing Wind’ Massive Bluestem

	botanical identify Andropogon gerardii ‘Dancing Wind’
	solar necessities Full solar
	top 5 – 6 ft
	hardiness zones 4 – 9

‘Dancing Wind’ is an enormous bluestem cultivar with beautiful fall colour. This decorative grass develops broad, dense, upright clusters of largely inexperienced leaves. Dramatic reddish-bronze panicles bloom in late summer time, giving approach to enticing, long-standing seedheads. The leaves change to an excellent scarlet crimson for a good looking fall show. 

Go away ‘Dancing Wind’ standing via the winter to benefit from the colourful and long-lasting fantastic thing about this plant. Birds will cease by to forage on the seeds and search shelter in and across the vegetation clumps. ‘Dancing Wind’ is a showy grass that can thrive in a sunny location with well-drained soil. Enable it loads of house to keep away from crowding with close by vegetation.

Deergrass

	botanical identify Muhlenbergia rigens
	solar necessities Full solar
	top 3 – 6 ft
	hardiness zones 6 – 10

Deergrass is an easy-to-grow bunchgrass native to the southwestern United States and Mexico. It could develop as much as six ft tall and 4 ft huge, so that you’ll need to give it loads of house in your xeriscape backyard. 

Deergrass develops massive, rounded mounds of thin-bladed, pale inexperienced vegetation. Within the spring, it produces a number of tall yellowish flowering panicles. Birds will come to feed on the seeds, and ground-foraging birds will search shelter within the vegetation. Deergrass is evergreen and can appear to at all times have a mixture of inexperienced and yellow-brown leaves.

‘Fireworks’ Fountain Grass

	botanical identify Pennisetum setaceum ‘Fireworks’
	solar necessities Full solar to partial shade
	top 3 – 4 ft
	hardiness zones 9 – 10

‘Fireworks’ is a particularly showy fountain grass cultivar. This grass has stunning, deep crimson and inexperienced striped leaves that kind dense, bushy clusters. It retains its shiny colours all through the complete rising season, ultimately reaching three to 4 ft tall and as much as three ft huge. 

You’ll need to make sure to place ‘Fireworks’ in a location the place you possibly can absolutely see and recognize its advantageous foliage. Develop this grass in full solar or mild, dappled shade with medium-moisture, well-drained soil. Except you reside in a really heat local weather zone, you’ll must develop your ‘Fireworks’ as an annual.

‘First Knight’ Fountain Grass

	botanical identify Pennisetum ‘First Knight’
	solar necessities Full solar to partial shade
	top 4 – 5 ft
	hardiness zones 7 – 11

‘First Knight’ is a fountain grass cultivar with stunning, darkish purple-green leaves. ‘First Knight’ prefers wealthy, moist, well-drained soil. This grass is finest grown in hotter climates the place it’s a perennial. In cooler local weather zones, nevertheless, it may possibly nonetheless be grown as an annual.

‘First Knight’ can develop fairly massive, reaching as much as 5 ft tall and three ft throughout. It is a nice plant for a bigger sunny perennial backyard, or due to its massive dimension, you possibly can develop it alongside some decorative shrubs for some contrasting foliage types.  

‘Hameln’ Dwarf Fountain Grass

	botanical identify Cenchrus alopecuroides ‘Hameln’
	solar necessities Full solar
	top 2 – 3 ft
	hardiness zones 5 – 9

‘Hameln’ is a compact fountain grass cultivar. It grows to a few ft tall and can carry out finest, with probably the most dense development, in full solar. This plant wants well-drained soil and could be a sensible choice for a xeriscape or massive container. Many fountain grass vegetation can turn into weedy, however this cultivar is reported to have sterile seeds and shouldn’t unfold aggressively. 

‘Hameln’ produces dense mounts of skinny, wiry, darkish inexperienced foliage. In late summer time and fall, ‘Hameln’ produces many tall flowering spikes with a dense bottlebrush look. The flowers vary from white to creamy pink or lavender hues. These are long-standing on the plant and might be left to present decorative worth via the winter. The flowerheads additionally make an excellent addition to dried flower preparations. 

‘Hush Pet’ Fountain Grass

	botanical identify Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Hush Pet’
	solar necessities Full solar to partial shade
	top 2.5 – 3 ft
	hardiness zones 5 – 9

‘Hush Pet’ is a good looking decorative grass cultivar. It’s bred to be sterile and shouldn’t self-seed or turn into invasive, although it’s going to unfold outward by root rhizomes. Clusters will turn into bigger and bushier because the plant grows older, creating stunning fluffy-tufted clumps.

The foliage of this fountain grass stays pretty compact, reaching as much as three ft tall. The leaves are skinny and gently arching. Spectacular flowering spikes bloom in late summer time. The flowers are delicate and bushy with a pale pink tinge. At full bloom, a mature ‘Hush Pet’ grass plant will look like lined with feathery pink flowers.

In the event you love the look of delicate, wispy grasses that work fantastically as bouquet filler, additionally take a look at ‘Frosted Explosion’ grass, with shimmery panicles that shine within the solar.

‘Karl Foerster’ Feather Reed Grass

	botanical identify Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’
	solar necessities Full solar
	top 3 – 5 ft
	hardiness zones 5 – 9

‘Karl Foerster’ grass is a big and showy cultivar of feather reed grass. It is a superb grass for a big, open space with loads of daylight. ‘Karl Foerster’ shouldn’t be too choosy about soil varieties. It is a cool-season grass, and the foliage will look its finest within the winter and spring earlier than the peak of summer time and scorching climate, particularly in hotter climates.

‘Karl Foerster’ is a really dramatic grass that may develop as much as 5 ft tall. It produces a mass of creamy bronze flower spikes that sway gently, even in very slight breezes. When grown in massive lots, this offers the impact of undulating ocean waves. 

Little Bluestem

	botanical identify Schizachyrium scoparium
	solar necessities Full solar
	top 2 – 4 ft
	hardiness zones 3 – 9

Little bluestem is an understated bunchgrass native to jap North America. It grows properly in a spread of circumstances. Little bluestem is an efficient wildlife-friendly grass that pulls each butterflies and birds.

There are a number of fascinating little bluestem cultivars obtainable commercially with some variability in stem, leaf, and flower colour. Most little bluestem vegetation have mild greenish-blue leaves, some with reddish suggestions. The flower panicles bloom in late summer time and fall with a purple-bronze seedhead. Develop little bluestem in bunches in a naturalized space and even in a big container.

Northern Sea Oats

	botanical identify Chasmanthium latifolium
	solar necessities Full solar to partial shade
	top 2 – 5 ft
	hardiness zones 3 – 8

Northern sea oats, additionally known as river oats, is a unique-looking decorative grass native to the jap United States. Develop it as a wetland border plant or in a rain backyard the place it may possibly take pleasure in constantly moist soil. This grass grows properly each in full solar or partial shade and will also be grown alongside a woodland edge.

Northern sea oats kind spreading clumps of tall, grassy vegetation. Within the fall, tall flowering seedheads kind, wanting like feathery growths of quite a few flattened, nodding oats. The dried seedheads make a beautiful addition to a dried flower association or nature craft initiatives.

Birds additionally take pleasure in consuming the dried seeds. Northern sea oats can unfold rapidly, so be ready to do some weeding every spring to take away undesirable seedlings.

‘Overdam’ Feather Reed Grass

	botanical identify Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Overdam’
	solar necessities Full solar
	top 2.5 – 3 ft
	hardiness zones 4 – 8

‘Overdam’ is a hybridized species of feather reed grass that makes a fascinating landscaping plant. This medium-sized bunchgrass would make a advantageous addition to a rain backyard or wetland border.

‘Overdam’ feather reed grass develops a mixture of skinny, upright, and arching leaves, giving it a considerably uneven however extra compact look than many bigger decorative grasses. The leaves are variegated yellow and inexperienced and kind dense clumps. Its pinkish-green flowers bloom within the late summer time and fall and entice seed-eating birds.

Pink Muhly Grass

	botanical identify Muhlenbergia capillaris
	solar necessities Full solar to partial shade
	top 2 – 3 ft
	hardiness zones 5 – 11

Pink muhly grass is likely one of the showiest decorative grasses round. This stunning and colourful grass is native to central and jap North America, the place it grows in dry grasslands and open woodlands. As a landscaping plant, pink muhly grass will carry out finest with probably the most ample flowers in full solar, though it’s going to additionally tolerate mild shade. The soil ought to be properly drained with dry to medium moisture. 

Pink muhly grass has skinny leaves that develop into dense, rounded clumps. For many of the rising season, you might assume that’s all there may be to this plant, however within the autumn, it explodes into bloom with quite a few delicate pink panicles.

A mature plant in full bloom is kind of a spectacle, showing to have a wealthy pink haze throughout it. Go away your pink muhly grass standing via the winter for construction and curiosity all through the colder months of the 12 months. 

Prairie Dropseed

	botanical identify Sporobolus heterolepis
	solar necessities Full solar
	top 2 – 3 ft
	hardiness zones 3 – 9

Prairie dropseed is native all through a lot of central and jap North America however prefers barely cooler climates. Develop it on a hillside, as a big floor cowl, or in a xeriscape panorama.

Prairie dropseed is a graceful-looking grass, with its lengthy, gently arching foliage touching the bottom. Mature vegetation can develop as much as three ft tall and three ft huge, so make sure to give them loads of house to sprawl. From late summer time to fall, prairie dropseed shows showy pinkish panicles, which can entice loads of seed-eating birds.

Purple Lovegrass

	botanical identify Eragrostis spectabilis
	solar necessities Full solar
	top 1 – 2 ft
	hardiness zones 5 – 9

Purple lovegrass is a fantastically showy grass that’s native all through a lot of central and jap North America. Develop this grass in a naturalized space, in a container, xeriscape, or in a pocket prairie backyard. Purple lovegrass does properly in heat places with gritty, well-drained soil. 

This grass develops stunning dense mounds of one-foot-tall foliage. In mid-summer, it blooms with two-foot-tall flowering panicles. These panicles have a beautiful reddish-purple tint that appears to drift above the leafy mounds like a delicate, misty cloud. Go away the foliage all through the winter for long-season curiosity, and birds will take pleasure in consuming the seeds.

Purple Muhly

	botanical identify Muhlenbergia sericea
	solar necessities Full solar to partial shade
	top 2 – 5 ft
	hardiness zones 7 – 11

The purple muhly grass, additionally often known as candy grass or dune hairgrass, is a fantastically showy grass native to the southeastern United States. In its pure habitat, it grows in sand dunes and different sandy coastal habitats and is, due to this fact, a super alternative for this area. Develop it in a heat and sunny location with sandy, sharply drained soil. 

Purple muhly grass has lengthy, skinny, gracefully arching leaves. The leaves are darkish inexperienced and kind massive mounded tussocks of vegetation. Within the fall, this grass sends up a dense mass of extremely showy panicles with a pale pinkish-purple tinge. The panicles are delicate, delicate, and misty wanting. Enable the vegetation to face via the winter for continued structural curiosity, even after the vegetation have turned brown for the 12 months.

Purple Millet ‘Purple Majesty’

	botanical identify Pennisetum glaucum ‘Purple Majesty’
	solar necessities Full solar
	top 3 – 5 ft
	hardiness zones 2 – 11

Purple millet ‘Pearl Majesty’ is an extraordinarily showy annual grass. This decorative plant can develop as much as 5 ft tall and has broad, corn-like leaves rising up a thick, upright stem. The leaves are darkish inexperienced with a heavy purple tint. Purple millet blooms in late summer time with massive, thick, cattail-like seedheads. 

This is a superb plant for attracting birds. Go away these vegetation standing into the wintertime, and lots of foraging seed-eating birds and mammals will come by to take pleasure in selecting the seeds from the dried seedheads.

You may simply develop purple millet ‘Purple Majesty’ in any sunny location with medium-moisture, well-drained soil. Incorporate it right into a chicken backyard, annual flower mattress, or massive container.

Ruby Grass

	botanical identify Melinis nerviglumis ‘Savannah’
	solar necessities Full solar
	top 0.5 – 1.5 ft
	hardiness zones 8 – 10

Ruby grass is a perennial grass that thrives in heat climates and is native to Africa. In cooler climates, Zones 7 and under, it may be simply grown as an annual. You can begin ruby grass from seed every spring or pot outside vegetation within the fall and overwinter them indoors in a cool location earlier than planting them out once more the next spring. Ruby grass wants full solar and moist, well-drained soil.

Ruby grass is a good looking, compact bunchgrass. The skinny, silvery blue-green leaves kind dense, spiky clusters through the summer time. By late summer time, ruby grass develops delicate, feathery flowering panicles. The panicles are pale to deep pink earlier than fading to creamy brown seedheads within the fall. The autumn foliage can also be enticing, turning reddish on the suggestions. This grass is an efficient possibility for container gardening.

‘Shenandoah’ Switchgrass

	botanical identify Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’
	solar necessities Full solar to partial shade
	top 3 – 4 ft
	hardiness zones 5 – 9

‘Shenandoah’ is a switchgrass cultivar with showy foliage and flowers. This grass develops dense, upright clusters of inexperienced foliage through the rising season. In mid to late summer time, it blooms with tall, showy, darkish pinkish-red panicles that look considerably like bunches of chicken’s foot shapes waving within the breeze. Within the fall, the seedheads flip bronze-brown and entice seed-eating birds, whereas the leafy foliage turns into shiny crimson crimson.

‘Shenandoah’ is a pretty compact number of switchgrass, rising three to 4 ft tall. Use it in an space with moist, well-drained soil and loads of shiny daylight. It is a nice grass for attracting wildlife, creating vegetative edges, and incorporating it into prairie gardens and native plant gardens. 

Continuously Requested Questions