Skip to main content

A Take on Grasses - Appreciating the Lowly but Important Garden Element

When the subject of gardens and landscaping is brought to a conversation, the first things that pop into people’s minds are trees, shrubs, flowers. Rarely do people take notice of something very significant and crucial for the beauty of most landscapes – grasses. Humans step on them, children play on them, dogs roll over them, but most of the time people ignore these prominent figures of gardens and parks. Imagine how a landscape would be without grasses – it would be dull, dry, boring if not downright ugly. Without grasses, a scenery would usually not be complete.

Grasses are very useful not only for their aesthetic qualities but for some practical purposes as well. Grasses are very flexible as they can grow in almost any quality of soil more than other kinds of plants. Grasses do not need so much for them to thrive, just water is enough for most grasses to grow and make any landscape green. While many people have the notion that grasses are boring, their wide variety makes them interesting components of a landscape as they come in different colors, textures, and heights. Even when grasses die and get dry, they still have certain decorative and practical value. Grasses are very important for the environment as well as they serve as ground covering that can prevent soil erosion and maintain a good amount of water for other plants to grow.

There are many kinds of grasses each having their distinct qualities that make them worth planting in different kinds of landscapes. Here are some of them:

Bermuda grass – this is perhaps the most popular kind of grass which is extremely popular in places where the sun shines most of the time. This kind of grass is ideal for sunny areas because they are very resistant to heat and drought. This high tolerance makes it an ideal grass to cover vast tracts of lands. However, the hardiness of Bermuda also gives it the tendency to “invade” areas inhabited by other plants.

Blue grass – this is another popular type of grass that grows well during the summer being drought tolerant like the Bermuda. This is very common in the north because of its tolerance cold weather. However, blue grass can grow clumpy when not maintained well.

Bahia grass – this is very popular in the Southeastern parts as they are very easy to maintain. Bahia grass has coarse blades that are resistant to drought and shade as well as salty water and soils. However, this grass requires a lot of mowing because of its texture.

Buffalo grass – this one is very much like the blue grace and is also rather common in the Northern parts. This grass is good for parts that there is little rainfall. The appearance is somewhat a cross between the blue and Bermuda grasses. Its blue-green tinge in summer turns straw brown during winter.

Kentucky bluegrass – this is the most popular kind of grass in the north, and it is sometimes planed in the south. It is characterized to have a soft texture and a dark green shade, it is quite resilient to cold.
Bent grass – this is a perennial type of grass with a fine texture. It is known to form soft turfs that are tightly knit. This characteristic makes it an ideal grass for golf course greens.

There are many other types of grass, each grow for appropriate purposes for appropriate regions and weather conditions. There are several books and magazines for landscaping that tackle everything about grasses. There are also many online resources about the subject.

Grasses are important parts of any landscape. They add life to any dull piece of land as they provide a sense of warmth and coziness.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

History Of Mulberry Trees, ‘Morus Alba,’ ‘Morus Rubrum,’ And ‘Morus Nigra’

Mulberry trees were well known in the ancient civilizations of the world. They were famous fruit trees, because of the delicious berry fruits that were abundantly produced by fast growing trees—loaded with huge green leaves that were eaten by livestock, along with the berries, and the leaves were used in the Orient to fatten silkworms for the silk trade. General Oglethorpe, in 1733, imported 500 white mulberry trees to Fort Frederica in Georgia to encourage silk production at the English colony of Georgia. William Bartram, the famous early American explorer and botanist, described his encounter with mulberry trees near Mobile, Alabama, in his book, Travels, in the year 1773. Prince’s Nursery in 1774 offered for sale 500 white mulberry trees, ‘Morus alba’ and 1000 black mulberry trees, ‘Morus nigra,’ at Flushing, New York. Documents show that America’s first President, George Washington, bought fruit from this nursery. Mulberry trees were planted in the landscape of President Thomas Jef...

A Flower A Day Keeps The Doctor Away

Gourmet food is expensively delicious not only for its quality ingredients and taste, but also for its aesthetics. Aesthetics in food are making a big comeback in today’s restaurants, and for good reason. An experience involving one sense unwittingly involves more than one. So while we eat, we may think that taste is all that our brain is processing, but it’s a much richer experience than that. The smell and the sight of the food are major points in the eating experience. One of the most natural and most appealing ways to brighten up and beautify a dish is the simple addition of an edible flower! There are many varieties which are edible, and add a subtle flavor into your dish. Cooking with flowers, though, is a cautious process, as you must be completely sure that what you are serving is neither poisonous nor chemically treated. Once you have chosen your flowers safely, the options available for cooking are very wide. While I don’t recommend you start viewing bouquets as scrumptious s...