Guides For NZ Native Grasses and Ornamental Grasses

Grass Plants Commonly Included In NZ Gardens

New Zealand's native grasses offer both beauty and ecological benefits to a garden. They can transform your garden into a haven for local wildlife and create a landscape in sync with NZ’s nature. The Plant Company’s range of native grasses includes Carex, Sedges, Tussocks, Juncus, Uncinia, Chionochoa, Cortaderia, Libertia, Poa, Macherina, and more! You will find we easily have the largest range in NZ. Many of these fabulous plants have been grown from eco-sourced seed and raised in our large nursery. We also buy in plants from NZ’s leading plant nurseries. Our eye for quality means only the best plants go to our customers.

Exotic grasses also feature strongly in our plant nursery, and again, we have a vast range of these. Some of these ornamental grasses include Lomandra, Miscanthus, Acorus, Imperata, Hakonechloa, Sisyrinchium, to name just a few. These are either propagated at our nursery or brought in from nurseries that can meet our quality expectations.

NZ Native Grasses For Landscaping

Landscapers throughout NZ generally favour using NZ natives in their designs, and grasses are a prominent part of that. Short of listing all the grasses we have on offer, here are a few of the more popular choices to guide your thinking.

• Poa cita with its elegant and slender green foliage.
• Juncus pallidus is often used in wetter areas for both height and to provide an architectural flair.
• Festuca coxii is a blue grass that provides a unique input of colour to a garden.
• Chionochloa flavicans is used to cover large areas and has beautiful, white flower plumes.
• Chionochloa rubra brings in red colouring to a space along with elegant foliage.
• Carex Testacea has vibrant orange colourings and adds both impact and great aesthetics to a garden.
• Carex buchananii features brown foliage held with a gentle arch. This is popular in modern gardens.
• Apodasmia similis has unique, upright foliage that adds character to a garden.
• Anemanthele lessoniana is aptly named Wind Grass and has colourful foliage that shimmers in the wind.

Ornamental Grasses Available In NZ

The Plant Company has hundreds of varieties of ornamental grasses available right now. There is no question that we have the largest range available in NZ and we know that our quality is first class because that’s what our customers tell us. We further know this because we grow and propagate grasses ourselves as well as source from the best plant nurseries in NZ. Some of the more popular ornamental grasses we have include Lomandra Lime Tuff, Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster', Miscanthus sinensis, Liriope muscari, Mondo Grasses, Imperata cylindrica 'Red Baron', and more! These are just a small taste of what we have. There is a whole suite of NZ native grasses not even listed here, that are available too! Be sure to check out our full range of grasses and prepare to be impressed!

Planting Native Grasses And Ornamental Grasses

It is important when planting grasses to not let them dry out. While most are hardy to drought, this tolerance only occurs after they are fully established. Therefore, after you have carefully planted your grasses into well prepared soil and firmed them in gently to remove air pockets, be sure to water them well!

Often, native grasses are planted in wind prone areas, so the watering is even more vital here. The Plant Company recommends that grasses should only be planted in exposed positions from late autumn until early spring so they can establish while there is plenty of moisture in the soil and temperatures are not too hot. Finally, be sure not to place any fertiliser in the hole at planting as this can burn the roots. Rather spread native plant fertiliser on the soil surface after planting and during spring. With these simple measures your native or ornamental grasses should thrive.