Mosaic Monday – October 24

Mosaic Monday – Decorative Grasses

This week for Mosaic Monday I wanted to talk about a comment to a post I made last week for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day. One of the commenters is a Portland gardener named Scott Weber whose garden blog is Rhone Street Gardens.  I went to visit his blog and found a wonderful post about a grass nursery, called Wind Dancer Garden, who’s specialty is decorative grasses.

I fell in love with the beautiful photos that I saw about this nursery, and tried to find out just where it was, since I am in the vicinity of Portland. To my delight, I found that the nursery was only a few miles away from me. So, with my new IPhone in my purse, we decided to go there this weekend.

The owner was very gracious and showed us through her garden and nursery and even gave us a few kiwi. We enjoyed ourselves so much, that unfortunately, we forgot to take a single photo there. But we did buy several grasses, and so, I have taken photos of the grasses I bought as well a those that are already in my garden for my Mosaic Monday.

The first of our purchases is this graceful Deer Grass, whose flowering stalks tower far above the grass itself, which forms a dense clump. Aside from it being beautiful, it appears to be quite drought tolerant.

Our next purchase is a pennisetum, called Pennisetum Piglet. I love the form and the flower heads, and have been wanting some for quite awhile. Can’t wait to find a spot for it in my garden.

This next one is called Blue Gamma Grass, “Blond Ambition”. This is a facinating looking grass. The flower heads are unusual and beautiful. I fell in love with this one and can’t wait to get it into my garden.

This last purchase is also a pennisetum called “Red Head”. It is larger than “Piglet” and the seed heads are a dark brown color. This was the first one that I found at the nursery. Now that I have found the nursery and know how accessible it is, I know that I will go back.

This one is  red miscanthus of some kind. It stays green all summer. But two weeks ago it was a brilliant red and glistened in the morning sun like a flame. By now it has turned yellow with very little of the red left.

Here I have a pot of lemon grass, which will stay in a pot because it is too tender for our climate. Yes this is the stuff you cook with. Yum.

This little tiny grass is called “Morning Light” It is a pretty little grass that I plan on putting into a larger pot.

These brown sedges self seed very readily. I have tons of them and have given away a lot. My kitties love to play in them and dive in and twirl around in the grass.

My Mexican Feather Grass also self seeds readily and I have quite a bit of it in my volcano strip.I love the way that it sways in the breeze.  It is a very graceful grass that starts out green and turns a golden yellow after it flowers.

This is another sedge that is a little larger and is more upright and has a brown and orange color to it. My Blue Oat Grass is one of my favorites and has given me a few volunteer plants which I have managed to move around in my garden.

I have quite a bit of Blue Fescue which also self seeds somewhat. Here is a cluster that I moved into the spot where the city had to cut down a tree that had split.

I have several more miscanthus varieties. This first one is variagated and is one of my favorites. Earlier this spring I divided five clumps, gave some away and have two that I kept.  A row of five clumps blocks my favorite garden seating from view from the sidewalk.

The next one is right by my front window, is over six feet with the seed heads. It flops over in the rain, but straightens back up.

This is my Zebra Grass is also very tall and is next to the last grass right outside my front window.

And last is my Black Mondo Grass. I can see that some cameleon plant is invading it. I need to start getting that stuff out of there. Garden work is never done.

Well that is my Mosaic Monday offering for this week. I am thrilled to have found another nursery, and pleased to show off what I bought and what I already have in my garden.  Now, I think I will go on over to Dear Little Red House to see the rest of the mosaics that everyone else has made.