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Miscanthus sinensis 'Gracillimus'This IS your grandfather's ornamental grass!An original, and still a champion.An oldie, and still a goodie. One of the earliest cultivars of Miscanthus, 'Gracillimus' has graced American gardens since the early 1900s. All these years later, it is still swoon-worthy, still a top seller, and still the standard.Stately clumps of slender green leaves with gleaming silver midribs grow to 7 feet tall. In October, the reddish bronze inflorescences gradually turn to sil

If there’s a garden grass that your average gardener knows by name, it’s ‘Karl Foerster’. This eponymous creation of the legendary plantsman was the first ornamental grass named Perennial Plant of the Year.Naturally, we know (and grow) lots more, but this is the one to know if you know only one. It’s famous worldwide for its beauty, adaptability and ease of culture.Prolific breeder and author Karl Foerster (1874-1970) introduced over 600 plants and wrote two dozen books. His breeding motto was “

We grow over two dozen varieties of this multifaceted, cosmopolitan genus. Why so many? Because no two are alike. Let’s inventory their assets and characteristics.Size: Our fountain grass offerings range from awww!-some cuties like ‘Little Bunny’, a mere 10 – 12” tall, all the way up to statuesque six-footers in the Royal Collection.Foliage: Name it! At one end of the color spectrum is the bright chartreuse of P. alopecuroides 'Yellow Ribbons’. On the dark side are the Royals, with big, rippling

When the color experts at Pantone announced their Color of the Year for 2021, they gave us a rare double-header.Illuminating is a cheerful yellow. Ultimate Gray is exactly what it sounds like. They complement one another nicely: Yellow for sunny optimism, gray for rock-solid reliability. Let’s go gray first. Obviously, gray – even Ultimate Gray -- is not sexy. Call it silver if it makes you feel better. As designers know, there’s a place for it in nearly every border.Magically, colors that clash

That which we call a weasel snout, by any other name...Lamiastrum ‘Herman’s Pride’ is a lovely ground cover that excels even in one of the toughest landscape niches: The dreaded dry shade.Colorful and sturdy, it spreads slowly, clump by clump, to colonize tricky slopes and other barren places. Hardy in Zones 4 – 8, it stands about a foot tall when in bloom.This interesting, useful plant has two common names. Both are interesting, but only one is useful. “Yellow archangel” resonates at retail: An