A Grass Guide: Why You Should Get Native Grasses for your Garden

Native grasses are important part of habitat restoration, even habitats measured in square feet rather than acres. Here's some "ly" reasons of what they add:

1.     Aesthetically –If you think of a garden as a living bouquet, grasses add different heights and textures to the mix creating a more beautiful plot.  Many grasses make beautiful seed heads in the summer and turn shades of red, yellow and lavender in the fall.

This garden bed is full of Indian grass, Big bluestem and Canada Wild Rye.  Which you can see gently waving in the front of the picture.  They are helping to prop up the bee balm and sunflowers in the back.

2.     Practically – Since wildflowers are accustomed to growing amidst grass,

many of them use grass to support their spindly stems. Without their support,

they droop and fall over and lie in the dirt.

 These Black eyed Susans are leaning into this fox sedge.

3.     Ecologically – Native grasses attract predator insects and wildlife: a phenomenon I have observed first-hand.  This non-award winning picture is a robber fly, perched on a pot of Big Bluestem that I was selling at the Greenfield Farmers Market in downtown Greenfield.  Amidst the concrete and traffic, this dangerous looking character spied my Big bluestem, recognized it as his hunting grounds and began hunting (unsuccessfully).

There are many different types of robber flies. They are most easily identified by their long legs which they use to snatch flying insects out of the air while hanging from a grass or a herbaceous plant.

4.     Diversity - In addition, native grasses also host many butterflies, mostly

different species of skippers, pictured here is Leonard’s skipper,  which

hosts on Big Bluestem.

5.     Environmentally- Many native grasses such as big and Little Bluestem, Indian grass, and Side Oats gramma have roots several times deeper than their height.  These long roots support their own underground habitat and hold the soil against erosion.

In addition, grasses provide shade – Its 10 degrees cooler in the fronds of native grass than outside of it. Our 3” lawn grass doesn’t provide this protection. For butterflies, on days

where the temperature creeps in to the high 90’s, these 10 degrees is the difference between life and death.

What type of grass should I get?

Grasses fall into two general categories:

Cool weather grasses which grow in the spring and the fall (when temps are cooler) and dies back in the summer. Some grasses, if the temperature is very hot will disappear completely (but not die)

Warm weather grasses which grow in the heat of the summer. These grasses emerge later in the spring and grow vigorously through July and August.

Ideally, a mix of both types, like a mix of bloom times will help fill out your garden and provide the greatest benefit to the wildlife. In general grasses tend to have two different growing patterns: grasses that clump (Big and Little Bluestem, Indian grass, Bottlebrush grass, prairie drop seed)) and those that spread (Most of the Rye family, Purple love grass as well as Baltic rush)

Be patient with your grasses - most will grow slower than the herbaceous plants. Grasses that spread may need replenishing since many, such as members of the Elymus species are short-Iived. While they do reseed easily, the seeds are also food for many different birds and after a few seasons, its likely, your stand will be thinner than it was planted originally.

Pay attention to soil type- grasses grow thick and lush in the habitat that they prefer. This isn't always the richest, most fertile soil. Some grasses such as Prairie dropseed, Side-oats grama as well as Purple Love grass prefer sandy, nutrient poor soil and will struggle in rich garden loam.

Can't I just sprinkle the seeds and grow it myself?

You certainly can. However, be warned that sprinkling native grass seed in an area that already is full of lawn and crabgrass seed is an exercise in futility. The non native grasses (both lawn grass and crabgrass are not from the American continent) will grow much more quickly and smother your slower growing natives. Besides, all grasses when they are small tender shoots are nearly impossible to tell apart which makes weeding out the undesirable grass nearly impossible. A pot of grass is already densely planted and will grow into a clump which will become much more recognizable.

You really expect me to pay the same price for a perennial flowering plant as a pot of grass?

Native grasses are actually more expensive to grow than flowering plants. The seed packets are the same size as the herbaceous plants but one packet rarely makes much more than one or two pots of grass. Therefore, a lot more seed has to be purchased to create multiple pots. In the case of prairie dropseed, and other grasses with poor germination rate, a LOT more seed needs to be purchased. The materials price for soil, fertilizer and care are the same. Grasses are not a "money maker."