Grass Plants
Episode: # 29 15/12/07
Presenter: Nigel Ruck
Nigel is a bit of a grass man, he loves them and this week he shows off some of his favourites. Grasses come in all shapes and sizes, you have your big grass, you get small cute grass and you get your medium, tough, firm grass.
Festuca glauca, or Blue Fescue as it is commonly known, is great. It has wonderful, fine, blue-grey leaves which work beautifully as a colour contrast and add some real texture to any garden. They look like natives but they are not, they are from South Africa but they do work well In native style gardens and looks fabulous when it is mass planted. Like a lot of plants that have blue-grey leaves it has good drought resistance which is perfect in this day and age.
Liriope ‘Evergreen Giant’ is a fabulous plant. It is hardy, it will tolerate dry conditions and frost, you can grow it virtually anywhere in Australia, it looks incredible mass planted, works really well as borders, it can be used in contemporary style gardens, as a single specimen in a pot or it can be used in sub-tropical and tropical styled gardens. It is a wonderfully versatile plant and as an added bonus in late winter early spring it gets beautiful violet, purple flowers.
If you are after something big, the large Phormiums could be the go. Some of them can get up to 3 metres tall. A great variety is the Emerald Isle; it has a beautiful green topside with a lovely contrasting suede underside. Like all strappy leafed plants and grasses it is all about the foliage, but don’t forget the flowers. The Phormiums really put on a show with long spikes, plenty of flowers and are another reason why you should get your hands on them.
If you are after some bronze, red tones in the garden a dwarf Phormium could be the plant you are looking for. Bronze Baby is a beauty. All the Phormiums are native to New Zealand, they are good, tough, hardy, plants and what is lovely about the Bronze Baby is that you get a wonderful glossy top side to the leaf, a real contrast on the underside of the leaf and some subtle green tones on the lower part of the plant.
Here’s a little tip for you, if you want to see how things are going to look in the garden, have a wander around the nursery and hold different plants up against each other. It will give you a better idea as to whether they work well together. As an example Cordyline Red Sensation works beautifully with the Blue Fescue.
Featured Plants:
Blue Fescue (Festuca glauca)
Lily Turf (Liriope muscari ‘Evergreen Giant’)
New Zealand Flax (Phormium, Hybrid Cultivar ‘Emerald Isle’)
Dwarf Flax (Phormium, Hybrid Cultivar ‘Bronze Baby’)
Presenter: Nigel Ruck
Nigel is a bit of a grass man, he loves them and this week he shows off some of his favourites. Grasses come in all shapes and sizes, you have your big grass, you get small cute grass and you get your medium, tough, firm grass.
Festuca glauca, or Blue Fescue as it is commonly known, is great. It has wonderful, fine, blue-grey leaves which work beautifully as a colour contrast and add some real texture to any garden. They look like natives but they are not, they are from South Africa but they do work well In native style gardens and looks fabulous when it is mass planted. Like a lot of plants that have blue-grey leaves it has good drought resistance which is perfect in this day and age.
Liriope ‘Evergreen Giant’ is a fabulous plant. It is hardy, it will tolerate dry conditions and frost, you can grow it virtually anywhere in Australia, it looks incredible mass planted, works really well as borders, it can be used in contemporary style gardens, as a single specimen in a pot or it can be used in sub-tropical and tropical styled gardens. It is a wonderfully versatile plant and as an added bonus in late winter early spring it gets beautiful violet, purple flowers.
If you are after something big, the large Phormiums could be the go. Some of them can get up to 3 metres tall. A great variety is the Emerald Isle; it has a beautiful green topside with a lovely contrasting suede underside. Like all strappy leafed plants and grasses it is all about the foliage, but don’t forget the flowers. The Phormiums really put on a show with long spikes, plenty of flowers and are another reason why you should get your hands on them.
If you are after some bronze, red tones in the garden a dwarf Phormium could be the plant you are looking for. Bronze Baby is a beauty. All the Phormiums are native to New Zealand, they are good, tough, hardy, plants and what is lovely about the Bronze Baby is that you get a wonderful glossy top side to the leaf, a real contrast on the underside of the leaf and some subtle green tones on the lower part of the plant.
Here’s a little tip for you, if you want to see how things are going to look in the garden, have a wander around the nursery and hold different plants up against each other. It will give you a better idea as to whether they work well together. As an example Cordyline Red Sensation works beautifully with the Blue Fescue.
Featured Plants:
Blue Fescue (Festuca glauca)
Lily Turf (Liriope muscari ‘Evergreen Giant’)
New Zealand Flax (Phormium, Hybrid Cultivar ‘Emerald Isle’)
Dwarf Flax (Phormium, Hybrid Cultivar ‘Bronze Baby’)
AS SEEN ON 
