Vol.3 #6
February 22, 2002

Ornamental Grasses...Why So Popular These Days?

Forgive me for looking into the past so much.  Call me historically inclined.  Call me sentimental.  Frequently, I’m told that I am way out of touch!  Just ask Ellen.  At any rate, I am starting my 26th spring at Roxbury and I will be 44 this summer.  A slight obsession indeed.

    The point is that the primary landscape plant at the beginning of my career was the “Big Boy” tomato.  Dad was on the cutting edge by promoting the more blight resistant “Better Boy” tomato.  Hard core gardeners knew of then obscure items such as “Lenten Rose” or “Dwarf Hinoki Cypress”, but most of us wanted azaleas and boxwoods out front, and sweet corn out back.

    As a young child of the 1960’s I still recall the smell of the paper factory being carried 40 miles to the West by strong winds from Covington, Virginia to my tiny hometown of Ronceverte, W. Va.  Ronceverte was in a valley and “funky” air could occasionally settle in our basin.  It was also around this time that the toxic skim on the surface Cuyahoga River near Cleveland, Ohio caught fire and was allowed to burn for lack of a better alternative.  In West Virginia history we joked that a rock thrown into the Kanawha River, located along the “Chemical Capitol of the World”, would never hit bottom, as it would dissolve prior to settling.

    In the 8th grade, using funds from my paper route, I purchased a backpack with the universal ecology emblem (an oval with a horizontal bar through the center) of the early 1970’s.  Our consciousness of nature had come to pass.

    As environmental concerns gained popularity, plants of more sensitive habitats gained recognition.  The grasses of highland meadows and wetland areas, previously thought of as desolate fields and useless swamps, quickly became recognized for their unconventional beauty and endurance.  With our new found appreciation for nature came our appreciation of the grasses.

    Today we incorporate ornamental grasses extensively into our landscape because of their sheer beauty as well as the their lack of dependence upon us as caregivers.  No one ever fed and watered these plants in the wild, so why rely on humans.  The grasses are perfectly capable of fending for themselves, in a meadow, a wetland, or in our backyards.

    Next week I shall address the specific characteristics and needs of the various grasses.  Until then...have a great week.

                                                                                          Andy Lynn